Handbooks 


on 


The  Missions  of  the 
Episcopal  Church 


No.  V 


TheWest  Indies 


Price  50  Cents 

THE  NATIONAL  COUNCIL 

of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
Department  of  Missions 

281  Fourth  Avenue  * New  York 

1926 


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Handbooks 

on 

The  Missions  of  the 
Episcopal  Church 


No.  V 

TheWest  Indies 


Price  SO  Cents 

THE  NATIONAL  COUNCIL 

of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
Department  of  Missions 

281  Fourth  Avenue  - New  York 


1926 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


Page 

Introduction 5 

The  Republic  of  Haiti 13 

The  Dominican  Republic  ......  51 

Porto  Rico  . 61 

The  Virgin  Islands 91 

Cuba  95 

Bibliography  ....  121 

Index  123 


THE  RT.  REV.  JAMES  T.  HOLLY,  D.D.,  LL.D. 
First  Bishop  of  Haiti,  1874-1911 


The  West  Indies 


THE  Indies — what  visions  of  gold  and  silver, 
precious  stones  and  fragrant  spices,  that  little 
word,  descriptive  of  a distant  and  fabulously 
wealthy  land  has  painted  in  the  minds  of  men. 
Particularly  vivid  were  these  visions  in  the  fifteenth 
and  sixteenth  centuries.  So  eager  were  men  for 
these  riches  and  luxuries,  that  they  set  aside  even 
their  deepest  prejudices  in  order  to  attain  more 
easily  their  desires.  Thus  it  was  that  Columbus, 
convinced  that  the  world  was  round  and  that  the 
East  could  be  reached  by  sailing  westward,  was 
able  to  secure  the  aid  necessary  to  launch  his  ex- 
pedition. The  story  of  Columbus  is  too  familiar  to 
be  repeated  in  detail  here.  The  land  first  touched 
was  an  island  in  the  Bahama  group  to  which  the 
name  San  Salvador  was  given.  Thence,  proceeding 
southwards,  Columbus  landed  at  Cuba,  which  he 
was  confident  was  the  main  land  of  India.  For 
this  reason  he  began  to  call  the  inhabitants  of  the 
islands  Indians,  and  later,  the  islands  themselves 
came  to  be  known  as  “West  Indies.”  From  Cuba, 
he  sailed  eastward  and  discovered  the  present  Island 
of  Haiti  to  which  he  gave  the  name  Espanola,  be- 
cause of  its  resemblance  to  the  more  beautiful  prov- 
inces of  Spain.  This  Island  was  destined  to  become 
the  central  point  of  the  New  World,  and  a base  for 
future  discovery  and  conquest.  Here,  Columbus  was 
received  with  the  utmost  cordiality  by  the  chief 
whose  innate  gentleness  and  goodness  of  heart  were 
characteristic  of  all  his  people,  whom  Columbus 
described  as  “a  loving,  uncovetous  people,  so  docile 

[ 5 ] 


in  all  things,  that  I believe  in  all  the  world  there  is 
not  a better  people  or  a better  country;  they  love 
their  neighbours  as  themselves,  and  they  have  the 
sweetest  and  gentlest  way  of  talking  in  the  world, 
and  always  with  a smile.”  On  this  Island  and 
among  these  people,  Columbus  determined  to  leave 
a small  settlement  which  he  named  La  Navidad. 
This  done,  he  returned  in  triumph  to  Spain.  He  had 
not  been  there  more  than  six  months,  however, 
when  he  set  forth  on  his  second  voyage,  this  time  ac- 
companied by  1500  eager  men  instead  of  the  120 
hesitant  adventurers  of  his  previous  expedition. 
His  company  now,  also,  included  a dozen  mission- 
aries under  the  charge  of  Bernard  Buil,  a Benedict- 
ine monk,  specially  appointed  by  the  Pope.  Good 
fortune  attended  them,  for  less  than  two  months 
after  setting  forth,  an  island  was  sighted  to  which, 
the  day  being  Sunday,  the  name  Dominica  wras 
given.  Then  in  rapid  succession  were  discovered 
and  named  Galante,  Guadaloupe  on  which  lived 
the  ferocious  Caribs,  Montserrat,  Antigua,  St.  Mart- 
in, Santa  Cruz,  San  Juan  later  called  Porto  Rico, 
the  Virgin  Islands,  and  finally  Jamaica.  In  sub- 
sequent voyages  he  discovered  Trinidad,  and  touch- 
ed on  the  coasts  of  South  and  Central  America. 

With  increasing  knowledge  of  the  New  World 
there  came  active  trade  and  intercourse  between  it 
and  the  old  world.  As  early  as  1497,  Spain  saw  in 
Espanola  a convenient  dumping  ground  for  her 
criminals,  and  in  that  year  sent  thither  several 
hundred.  By  some,  this  may  be  considered  to  have 
been  an  exchange  for  the  300  Arawaks  exported  to 
Spain  as  slaves  the  preceding  year — “gold  in  bars” 
as  they  were  pleasantly  called  by  a facetious  captain. 

The  Europeans  seeking  the  fabled  El  Dorado — a 
“Lake  of  Golden  Sands,”  in  the  New  World,  curi- 
ously enough,  brought  their  own  El  Dorado  with 
them  in  the  shape  of  sugar  cane.  The  West  Indian 
Islands  were  adapted  admirably  to  the  raising  of 

[ 6 ] 


WEST  INDIAN  STREET  SCENE 


PRIMITIVE  SUGAR  PRESS 


IJ.1VH  ‘aOMIMtl-aV'XHOd 


this  product.  The  sugar  industry  speedily  de- 
veloped on  a large  scale,  and  has  continued,  to  this 
day,  as  the  main  economic  factor  in  the  islands. 
From  it,  both  the  wealth  and  the  misfortunes  of  the 
islands,  alike,  have  chiefly  sprung;  for  it  involved 
another  importation — laborers  to  work  it.  The 
white  men  were  few  and  unfitted  by  nature  for  the 
work,  the  gentle  Arawaks  were  physically  weak, 
and  the  man-eating  Caribs  were  too  intractable. 
In  the  solution  of  the  problem,  the  Portuguese,  who 
were  responsible  for  it  through  their  introduction 
of  the  sugar  cane,  led  the  way;  on  the  continent  of 
Africa  they  found  laborers  in  abundance.  Other 
nations  were  not  slow  in  following  their  lead. 
Thus  the  system  of  slavery  and  the  slave  trade  were 
introduced  into  the  West  Indies. 

The  early  years  of  the  sixteenth  century  marked 
the  beginning  of  definite  colonizing  efforts  on  the 
part  of  the  conquerors.  Nicholas  de  Ovando,  Gov- 
ernor of  Haiti  from  1501  to  1506  introduced  the 
system  known  as  encomienda  whereby  land  and  Indians 
were  partitioned  among  the  Spanish  settlers.  This 
system  designed  to  colonize  the  islands  permanent- 
ly, and  to  enrich  the  settlers  rapidly  carried  in  its 
train  oppression  and  unspeakable  cruelties  to  the 
natives.  Pressed  into  labor  and  treated  with  intol- 
erable barbarity,  the  Indians  soon  broke  under  the 
strain  and  were  rapidly  declined  in  numbers.  It 
has  been  estimated  that  in  the  Island  of  Haiti  alone, 
a population  of  nearly  a million  Arawak  Indians 
was  reduced  in  ten  years,  through  excessively  hard 
labor  in  sugar  fields  and  mines,  to  scarcely  sixty 
thousand;  this,  notwithstanding  the  unwearied  ef- 
forts on  their  behalf  put  forth  by  one  of  the  greatest 
of  all  Dominican  missionaries,  Bartolomeo  de  Las 
Casas,  known  as  “The  Apostle  to  the  Indians.”  The 
gentle  Arawaks  were  done  to  death  by  intolerable 
labor;  the  hardier  Caribs  fell  a prey  to  the  savagery 
of  their  conquerors;  and  although  eventually  the 
labor  problem  was  solved  by  the  introduction  of 


slaves  from  Africa,  the  solution  came  too  late  to 
save  the  native  population.  Today  there  is  barely  a 
trace  of  Indian  blood  anywhere  in  the  West  Indies. 
Thus  the  population  of  the  West  Indies  today  is  70 
per  cent  colored,  descendants  of  the  slaves  of  co- 
lonial days ; and  on  only  two  of  the  islands,  Cuba 
and  Porto  Rico,  is  the  white  element  predominant. 

As  has  been  noticed,  the  spread  of  the  Faith  in 
the  New  World  was  not  neglected.  Members  of 
the  religious  orders  as  well  as  secular  priests  went 
to  the  new  colonies  to  convert  the  natives  as  well 
as  to  care  for  the  settlers.  With  a few  notable  ex- 
ceptions such  as  the  work  of  Las  Casas,  the  methods 
used  in  converting  the  Indians  failed  to  make  of 
them  real  Christians.  Too  often,  missionaries  were 
satisfied  with  a nominal  acceptance  of  the  Faith. 
No  effort  was  made  to  instruct  the  converts  and  it 
was  not  unusual  for  the  conquistador  to  impose  his 
religion  on  the  natives  by  force.  When  the  Negro 
supplanted  the  Indian,  no  effort  was  made  to  give 
the  Christian  message  to  him.  It  was  believed 
that  a slave  could  not  be  a Christian.  Only  after 
slavery  was  abolished  was  any  attempt  made 
towards  his  evangelization,  and  then  it  was  merely 
the  Negro  in  the  city  who  was  reached.  Little  or 
no  attempt  was  made  to  convert  the  Negro  in  the 
country  districts.  Thus  there  was  presented  to  the 
Church  of  a later  time  a magnificent  opportunity  to 
take  the  Gospel  of  Christ  to  these  long  neglected 
people. 

No  attempt  can  be  made  here  to  trace  the  vicis- 
situdes whereby  the  West  Indies,  discovered,  ex- 
plored, and  conquered  by  the  Spanish,  passed  from 
their  hands  to  those  of  the  English,  French,  and 
Dutch,  or  of  the  liberation  movements  through 
which  several  of  the  larger  islands  gained  their  in- 
dependence. The  results  of  these  events  naturally 
divide  the  islands  of  the  Caribbean  into  three 
classes:  first,  the  British  colonies  in  which  the 
Church  of  England  is  maintained  and  about  which 

[ 10  ] 


nothing  will  be  said  in  this  Handbook;  second,  the 
independent  Republics  which  include  Cuba,  Haiti, 
and  Santo  Domingo;  and  third,  the  American  terri- 
tories of  Porto  Rico,  and  the  Virgin  Islands.  In 
both  of  these  last  two  groups  America  has  a large 
interest,  and  in  these  insular  republics  and  depend- 
encies the  American  Church  has  a large  responsi- 
bility. It  is  the  purpose  of  the  following  pages  to 
tell  how  the  American  Church  has  met  this  respon- 
sibility in  the  Caribbean. 


FORT  OZAMA,  DOMINICAN  REPUBLIC 


[ 11  ] 


The  Republic  of  Haiti 

The  Republic  of  Haiti,  which  occupies  the  west- 
ern third  of  the  island  of  the  same  name,  declared  its 
independence  in  1804,  following  a reign  of  terror 
carried  on  in  the  name  of  liberty  and  the  consequent 
withdrawal  of  the  French  who  had  held  the  colony 
since  the  days  of  the  French  buccaneers  early  in  the 
seventeenth  century.  Independence,  however,  did 
not  bring  with  it  in  the  new  republic  the  construct- 
ive forces  which  might  have  been  expected.  On  the 
contrary,  demolition,  destruction,  and  terror  con- 
tinued, if  anything,  more  rampant  than  before. 
Nevertheless,  when  in  the  United  States  early  in  the 
Civil  War  places  for  Negro  colonization  other  than 
Liberia  were  being  sought,  Haiti  was  selected.  In 
1861,  there  went  to  Haiti  a company  of  Negro  emi- 
grants under  the  care  of  an  American  Negro  priest, 
the  Rev.  James  T.  Holly.  Thus  began  the  Mission 
of  the  American  Episcopal  Church  in  Flaiti. 

Of  African  descent,  Mr.  Holly  was  born  in  the 
City  of  Washington  of  free-born  Roman  Catholic 
parents  in  1829.  He  was  baptized  by  a Roman 
Catholic  priest  from  Haiti,  who  had  fled  to  this 
country  before  the  fury  of  the  Negroes,  at  that  time 
intent  upon  ridyling  their  country  of  the  last  vestige 
of  the  white  people.  Twelve  years  later,  he  was 
confirmed  by  the  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  but  his 
connection  with  the  Roman  Church  was  not  des- 
tined to  be  permanent.  He  learned  the  trade  of 
shoemaking,  working  in  Washington,  and  later  in 
Detroit.  Influenced  probably  by  the  peculiar  cir- 
cumstances of  his  Baptism,  and  by  the  romance  of 
the  Negro  Republic  battling  for  self-government,  he 
seems  early  to  have  been  possessed  with  the  desire 
to  offer  himself  as  a helper.  This  he  disclosed  in 

[ 13  ] 


a letter  written,  after  his  desire  had  been  gratified, 
from  his  Haitian  home:  “I  was  ordained  deacon  in 
1855  (by  Bishop  McCoskry  of  Michigan)  with  the 
express  understanding  that  I should  be  sent  to  work 
in  this  field.  As  a matter  of  fact,  two  weeks  after 
my  ordination,  I set  out  from  Michigan  to  New 
York,  from  where  I was  sent  ten  days  later,  by 
the  Foreign  Committee  of  the  Church,  to  collect 
information  as  to  the  possibility  of  establishing 
such  a mission,  and  returned  from  thence  with  a 
favorable  report.  Six  years  were  then  spent  in  gain- 
ing pastoral  experience  for  the  work  in  view;  and 
to  this  end  I was  advanced  to  the  priesthood  by  the 
Bishop  of  Connecticut  on  January  2,  1856,  when  I 
accepted  the  pastoral  charge  of  St.  Luke’s  Church, 
New  Haven,  in  that  Diocese.  Aside  from  the 
active  pastoral  work  of  that  congregation,  every 
fitting  occasion  was  seized  during  those  six  years 
to  stir  up  an  interest  by  tongue,  pen,  and  the  press, 
in  the  contemplated  Mission.  In  1861,  my  face  was 
again  set  towards  Haiti,  accompanied  by  110  per- 
sons (of  whom  I was  the  pastor)  for  the  practical 
establishment  of  the  Mission  in  this  land.” 

The  Bishops  of  Ohio  and  Connecticut  were  among 
the  most  prominent  in  promoting  this  enterprise 
and  it  was  largely  through  the  latter’s  influence  that 
his  diocese  aided  the  new  mission.  After  sixteen 
months,  Mr.  Holly  returned  to  the  United  States 
to  plead  Haiti’s  cause  before  the  General  Conven- 
tion. The  Foreign  Committee  of  the  Board  of  Mis- 
sions, being  unable  to  give  him  the  desired  assist- 
ance, he  turned  to  the  American  Church  Missionary 
Society  who  promised  him  some  help.  Thus  as- 
sured, he  returned  to  Haiti  where  in  Port-au-Prince 
in  a hired  room  he  ministered  to  a small  congrega- 
tion. On  Whitsunday,  May  15,  1863,  the  Church  of 
the  Holy  Trinity,  Port-au-Prince,  was  organized 
and  shortly  after  was  received  by  the  Presiding 
Bishop  under  his  episcopal  care.  So  important  wras 
this  work  regarded  that  he  appointed  the  Rt.  Rev. 

[ 14  ] 


Alfred  Lee,  Bishop  of  Delaware,  as  his  commissary. 
Bishop  Lee  immediately  visited  Haiti.  Upon  his 
return  he  reported  having  confirmed  twenty-six, 
and  adds:  “The  Rev.  J.  T.  Holly  has  made  a good 
beginning.  I was  very  favorably  impressed  with 
what  I saw  of  him  and  of  his  labors.  He  has  been 
working  with  zeal,  prudence,  and  perseverance,  and 
has  shown  remarkable  energy  in  so  debilitating  a 
climate.  It  will  not  be  worth  while,  however,  to 
prosecute  the  Mission  without  suitable  buildings. 
A convenient  and  appropriate  church  is  a sine  qua 
non,  and  accommodation  for  schools  and  residence, 
for  one  missionary,  at  least,  is  of  the  first  import- 
ance.” 

But  it  was  years  before  the  Mission  secured  this 
much  needed  church.  In  the  meantime,  Mr.  Holly 
worked  on.  In  1866,  the  Board  of  Missions  took 
this  work  over  from  the  American  Church  Mission- 
ary Society  which  was  contributing  nearly  $6,000 
a year  towards  its  support.  An  episcopal  visitation 
was  ardently  desired  in  the  field,  and  this,  together 
with  the  Board  of  Missions’  eagerness  for  a survey, 
led  to  the  sending  of  The  Rt.  Rev.  George  Burgess, 
Bishop  of  Maine,  to  visit  Haiti. 

The  vitality  of  Mr.  Holly’s  work  was  evident 
from  the  very  beginning.  He  fully  realized  that 
Haiti  must  be  led  by  Haitians,  and  that  if  a Mis- 
sion were  to  prosper  and  grow  into  a strong  Na- 
tional Church,  a native  ministry  was  indispensable. 
Laboring  toward  this  end  he  was  able,  during 
Bishop  Burgess’  visit,  to  present  two  young  men  for 
ordination.  The  Bishop  also  accepted  the  applica- 
tions of  six  others  as  candidates.  Bishop  Burgess, 
however,  did  not  find  in  Haiti  the  renewed  health 
for  which  he  sought,  and  on  the  voyage  home  he 
died,  a martyr  to  the  Haitian  cause.  Immediately 
the  congregation  in  Port-au-Prince  made  plans  to 
build  a church  in  his  memory.  A lot  was  purchased 
and  a church  costing  $6,000  was  shipped  in  parts  to 
Haiti  in  November,  1867.  Unfortunately,  the  site 

[ 15  ] 


purchased  for  the  building  proved  inadequate,  and 
it  was  necessary  to  exchange  the  original  lot  for  a 
larger  and  more  expensive  one.  Moreover,  political 
disturbances  at  this  time  wrought  havoc  throughout 
the  Republic,  and  it  was  not  until  1872,  that  the 
erection  of  the  new  church  in  Port-au-Prince  was 
completed. 

In  the  meantime,  the  work  of  the  Mission,  des- 
pite the  hardships  and  inconveniences  occasioned 
by  revolutionary  upheavals,  was  spreading  out.  At 
a number  of  points,  work  was  begun  and  congre- 
gations organized  in  charge  of  native  lay  readers 
or  candidates  for  Holy  Orders.  At  Port-au-Prince, 
a parish  school  was  conducted  in  connection  with 
the  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  and  in  one  of  the 
suburbs  the  new  mission  of  the  Holy  Comforter 
was  begun.  That  these  widely  separated  posts 
might  in  some  small  measure  be  linked  together,  the 
publication  of  a Church  paper,  The  Gospel  Echo  and 
Harbinger  of  the  Nciv  Age,  was  begun. 

So  promising  was  the  outlook  and  so  urgent  the 
need  for  episcopal  oversight  that  the  Haitian  Mis- 
sion by  vote  of  its  Convocation  petitioned  the  Gen- 
eral Convention  of  1871  to  elect  and  consecrate  a 
Bishop  for  Haiti.  In  response  to  this  request,  the 
Convention  designated  the  Rt.  Rev.  Arthur  C. 
Coxe,  Bishop  of  Western  New  Work,  Bishop-in- 
charge,  and  requested  him  to  visit  and  survey  the 
field.  Bishop  Coxe  spent  six  weeks  late  in  1872  in 
Haiti  during  which  time  he  consecrated  the  newly 
completed  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  Port-au- 
Prince,  on  December  5.  Upon  his  return  to  the 
United  States,  he  did  much  to  familiarize  American 
people  with  conditions  in  Haiti,  and,  in  his  report 
wrote : “The  religious  condition  of  these  people  is 
that  of  barbarism.  Although  many  of  them  have 
been  baptized  in  their  infancy,  yet  they  worship  the 
spirit  of  evil ; not  because  they  admire  or  love  the 
evil  spirit,  but  because  their  ancestors  have  done  so 
before  them,  and  because  they  wish  to  propitiate 

[ 16  ] 


him.  They  dread  the  white  man’s  God,  however, 
and  seem  to  think  that  Baptism  keeps  from  the 
power  of  charms  and  incantations  which  one  family 
is  continualy  using  against  another.  This  super- 
stition is  deep  in  the  hearts  of  these  500,000  African 
barbarians.  They  take  their  children  to  the  Romish 
priests  and  have  them  christened:  but  altho’  many 
of  them  have  thus  been  baptized,  they  are  still 
heathens  and  worship  the  heathen  one.  They  are, 
nevertheless,  very  docile,  and  treat  our  missionaries 
with  great  respect.” 

As  a result  of  this  report,  the  Board  of  Missions 
appointed  a special  committee  to  consider  the  ques- 
tion of  a Bishop  for  Haiti.  The  Committee,  headed 
by  Bishop  Coxe,  considered  carefully  two  ques- 
tions: (1),  Shall  the  Mission  be  organized  as  a 
Mission  of  this  Church  or  shall  it  be  erected  into  an 
independent  Haitian  Church  under  our  oversight? 
and  (2),  Shall  the  Bishop  in  either  case  be  white  or 
black? 

In  answer  to  these  queries,  they  recommended  : 
(1),  that  the  Haitian  Mission  must  be  made  a 
National  Haitian  Church  as  speedily  as  possible; 
and  (2),  that  the  Bishop  should  be  a Haitian. 

Upon  the  adoption  of  these  recommendations  by 
the  General  Convention  of  1874,  a Covenant  was 
entered  into  between  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  United  States  and  “The  Orthodox 
Apostolic  Church  of  Haiti,”  the  principal  terms  of 
which  were  : 

(1)  That  the  Church  in  America  recognizes  the 
Church  in  Haiti  as  of  right  and  of  fact  a foreign 
Church  under  the  definition  of  our  Constitution; 
and  that,  with  this  recognition,  the  assurance  is 
given  that  the  Church  in  Haiti  will  enjoy  the  nurs- 
ing care  of  the  Church  at  home  until  such  care  shall 
no  longer  be  needed.  (2)  That  the  Church  will 
designate  and  consecrate  one  of  the  Haitian  clergy 
to  be  Bishop  of  Haiti.  (3)  That  a Commission  of 

[ 17  ] 


four  American  Bishops  will  be  named  to  act  with 
the  Bishop  of  Haiti  as  a Board  of  Administration, 
to  extend  the  Episcopate  when  needed,  and  to  ad- 
minister discipline  pertaining  to  the  episcopal  order. 
(4)  That  the  Church  in  Haiti  agrees  to  guard,  in 
all  their  essentials,  a conformity  to  the  doctrines, 
worship  and  discipline  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  United  States,  departing  from  them 
only  as  local  circumstances  require.  (5)  That  the 
Haitian  Church  agrees  to  concede  to  the  Church  at 
home  the  designation  and  consecration  of  the 
Bishops  of  the  Church  in  Haiti  until  three  Bishops 
shall  have  been  established  therein. 

The  Haitian  clergy  had  anticipated  this  action 
and  had  elected  Mr.  Holly  as  Bishop.  The  election 
was  confirmed  by  The  House  of  Bishops,  and  his 
consecration  took  place  in  Grace  Church  in  the 
City  of  New  York  on  November  8,  1874. 

Eager  to  be  back  at  work,  Bishop  Holly  set  sail 
ten  days  later,  and  on  his  arrival,  received  a most 
cordial  welcome  from  the  whole  community  of 
Port-au-Prince — Church  and  State. 

Thus  began  the  Episcopate  of  the  first  Negro 
Bishop  of  the  American  Church,  a man  of  unusual 
ability;  of  highly  developed  powers  of  leadership; 
a courteous,  Christian  gentleman.  What  England 
had  done  for  Africa  ten  years  before  in  sending 
Crowther,  the  former  slave  boy,  to  minister  as  a 
Bishop  in  his  native  land,  the  Episcopal  Church  in 
the  United  States  now  did  for  Haiti. 

Thus,  also,  began  the  independent  Haitian 
Church.  This  Church  had,  as  we  have  seen,  already 
been  recognized  by  the  American  Church ; and  in 
1878,  similar  recognition  was  accorded  by  the 
Church  of  England  on  the  occasion  of  the  meeting 
of  the  Lambeth  Conference  which  Bishop  Holly 
attended  as  the  representative  of  the  Church  in 
Haiti.  That  its  growth  after  1874  was  not  as  rapid 
as  before  must  be  ascribed,  not  to  the  inefficiency 
of  its  Bishop,  but  to  a multitude  of  reasons,  funda- 

[ 13  ] 


TYPICAL  HAITIAN  HOUSES 


PALM  THATCHED  CHURCH,  CASSALLE 


GIRLS’  SCHOOL,  GROS-MORNE 


VILLAGE  OF  CABARET 


mental  among  which  undoubtedly  was  that  the 
Haitians  had  not  yet  developed  the  abilities  which 
enable  men  to  flourish  in  independence  whether 
ecclesiastical  or  political. 

The  years  1876-1889  were  a period  of  successive 
revolutions  and  political  upheavals  with  all  their 
attendant  evils,  and  the  development  of  the  Church 
was  seriously  affected.  Nevertheless,  the  presence 
of  Bishop  Holly  gave  new  direction  to  the  work. 
He  had  organized  his  jurisdiction  into  three  Mis- 
sionary Provinces  corresponding  to  the  Republic’s 
Departments  of  the  West,  South,  and  North.  In 
the  Western  Province  which  included  the  capital, 
Port-au-Prince  with  its  two  parishes,  Ploly  Trinity 
and  Holy  Comforter,  there  were  also  missions  at 
St.  Martin’s,  Trianon,  and  Petit  Fond,  with  ten- 
tative work  at  five  other  stations.  Work  in  the 
Southern  Province  was  carried  on  in  Jeremie,  Tor- 
bec,  Aux  Cayes,  and  L’Anse-a-veau.  The  Northern 
Province  had  proved  a difficult  district  in  which  to 
begin,  and  there  the  principal  station  was  Gros 
Morne,  the  business  centre  of  the  district,  with  oc- 
casional services  at  L’Acul,  St.  Louis  du  Nord,  Port 
de  Paix,  and  St.  Michel.  Gonaives,  also  in  this 
district,  had  been  the  centre  for  a mission  school, 
but  hard  times  had  so  reduced  the  enrollment  that 
it  became  impossible  to  maintain  it. 

During  the  years  immediately  following  Bishop 
Holly’s  consecration,  efforts  were  made  to  extend 
the  work  in  the  rural  communities  where  the  people, 
in  increasing  numbers,  were  destroying  their  heath- 
en idols  and  turning  to  the  Gospel.  Chapels  were 
erected  in  numerous  villages  of  the  interior  and  in 
the  mountain  district  around  Leogane.  At  Gros 
Morne,  where  work  had  early  been  begun,  the  old 
building  gave  way  to  a new  and  better  one.  In  fact, 
so  effective  was  the  work,  that  in  a small  town  nine 
miles  from  Jeremie,  a former  Roman  Catholic 
chapel  was  ceded  to  Bishop  Holly  who  took  formal 
possession  of  it  early  in  1881.  In  the  important  cen- 

[ 21  ] 


tre  of  Aux  Cayes,  the  corner-stone  for  a new  church 
was  laid  on  Ascension  Day,  1882. 

Mention  has  been  made  of  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Trinity,  Port-au-Prince,  which  had  been  con- 
secrated by  Bishop  Coxe  late  in  1872.  Here,  as 
well  as  at  Jeremie,  Aux  Cayes,  and  Cap  Haitien, 
endeavors  were  made  to  meet  the  needs,  not  only 
of  the  French-speaking  natives,  but  of  the  thousands 
of  Church  of  England  Negroes  whom  economic 
conditions  had  driven  to  Haiti  from  the  British 
West  Indies.  This  necessitated  regular  services  in 
both  French  and  English,  and  resulted  in  a large 
body  of  faithful  people  ministered  to  through  the 
church  and  rectory,  as  well  as  a thriving  school. 
Twice,  during  fifteen  years,  the  whole  plant  was 
destroyed  by  fire ; but  the  spirit  of  the  people  could 
not  be  daunted,  and,  each  time,  the  buildings  were 
replaced  under  more  favorable  conditions  and  large- 
ly through  funds  contributed  locally. 

This  brief  statement  gives  but  a faint  idea  of  the 
difficulties  met  and  overcome.  In  1873,  and  again 
in  1888,  this  parish  had  seen  its  whole  equipment 
go  up  in  smoke.  On  the  second  occasion,  and  after 
five  years  of  effort  coincident  with  the  twenty-fifth 
anniversary  of  the  organization  of  the  Haitian 
Church,  further  discouragement  came  through  the 
failure  of  a French  company  who  had  contracted 
to  deliver  the  material  for  a brick  and  steel  church. 
Finally,  in  1895,  the  church  was  completed  chiefly 
through  the  untiring  efforts  of  the  people  them- 
selves with  some  assistance  from  the  Woman’s 
Auxiliary  in  New  York  and  other  friends  in  Amer- 
ica. 

In  an  effort  further  to  knit  together  his  growing 
work,  Bishop  Holly  early  determined  to  revive  the 
publication  of  a monthly  Church  paper.  The  press 
which  issued  The  Gospel  Echo  and  Harbinger  of  the 
New  Age  was  burned  in  1873.  This  necessitated  the 
suspension  of  the  paper  for  several  years,  and  it 

[ 22  ] 


CHAPEL  OF  THE  RESURRECTION,  GROS-MORNE  CHAPEL  AT  BIGONE 


THE  REV.  ALEXANDER  BAPTISTE  FORTUNE  PIERRE  LOUIS.  LAY  READER 


was  not  until  1878  that  a small  press  was  placed  at 
the  disposal  of  the  Mission,  and  the  publication  of 
the  monthly  magazine  could  be  resumed.  The  new 
monthly  journal  had  about  200  subscribers,  largely 
among  intelligent  Roman  Catholics,  who  were  de- 
sirous of  becoming  familiar  with  the  doctrinal  basis 
of  the  American  Church.  The  press  also  published 
small  books  and  pamphlets  in  French  necessary  for 
the  carrying  on  of  the  work. 

In  this  connection,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that 
an  eminent  Haitian  writer  at  this  time  said:  “I  wish 
my  compatriots  to  see  how  necessary  it  is  for  them 
to  embrace  the  Protestant  Faith,  and  above  all,  to 
have  a National  Church.  The  Flaitian  Orthodox 
Apostolic  Church  would  offer  the  best  security  and 
guarantee  to  the  Haitian  Government  which  should 
be,  and  is,  the  true  Church  for  the  Haitian  nation, 
in  a word,  its  National  Church.  This  Church  should 
be,  and  is,  the  pillar  around  which  the  other  Pro- 
testant Churches  should  and  must  rally.” 

The  fortitude  with  which  the  members  of  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity  met  and  overcome  the 
obstacles  which  accompanied  the  building  of  a 
suitable  church  was  but  typical  of  the  determination 
of  the  whole  body  of  Flaitian  Christians  to  provide 
themselves  with  buildings  appropriate  to  the  wor- 
ship of  Almighty  God  and  the  means  whereby  the 
glad  tidings  of  Jesus  Christ  might  be  spread  more 
widely  throughout  the  land.  One  striking  evidence 
of  this  was  seen  in  the  formation,  in  1891,  of  a 
Haitian  Missionary  Society.  Other  evidences  of 
the  same  spirit  were  not  lacking:  in  Jeremie,  the 
members  of  St.  Luke’s  Church  raised  a thousand 
dollars  to  repair  their  building;  and  in  the  mountain 
district  of  Leogane,  the  year  1896,  the  thirtieth  an- 
niversary of  the  beginning  of  work,  saw  the  opening, 
in  the  town  of  Leogane,  of  the  sixth  chapel  in  the 
chain  of  stations  throughout  this  district.  Toward 
the  close  of  the  century  the  Gospel  was  beginning 
to  reach  many  of  the  sorcerers  of  the  district.  The 

[ 25  ] 


missionary  at  Leogane  writing  in  June,  1899,  of  this 
advance  said:  “Monday  last  (June  25),  the  Lord 
gave  to  the  Church  in  Leogane  a joyful  day.  Mem- 
bers from  the  six  stations  assembled  at  La  Salle 
to  assist  at  the  reception  of  seventeen  persons  who 
had  renounced  their  idolatrous  practices  and  em- 
braced the  principles  of  the  Gospel.  We  hope  that 
this  movement  which  began  about  six  months  ago, 
will  not  stop  here ; but  that  the  Lord  will  continue 
to  lift  up  His  arm  in  its  favour.” 

Bishop  Holly,  in  his  report  for  1899,  wrote:  “The 
most  important  auxiliary  to  the  missionary  work  of 
a Church  like  ours  among  a people  where  illiteracy 
greatly  predominates  and  in  whose  hands  we  seek 
to  place  the  Bible  and  Prayer  Book  for  intelligent 
use  is  the  maintenance  of  mission  schools.”  The 
Bishop  had  early  recognized  the  importance  of  a 
sound  educational  foundation  for  his  growing 
Church.  His  policy,  therefore,  was  to  establish  a 
parochial  school  in  connection  with  every  station — 
a task  of  great  difficulty  in  view  of  the  political  and 
financial  condition  of  the  Republic.  The  beginning 
was  naturally  made  at  Port-au-Prince  where,  in 
connection  with  Holy  Trinity  Church,  an  extensive 
educational  programme  was  proposed,  including  a 
primary  department,  a normal  industrial  school  on 
a tract  of  farm  land  adjacent  to  the  city,  and  a theo- 
logical department  in  connection  with  this  normal 
school ; but  for  years  it  proved  impossible  to  carry 
out  this  programme  except  in  two  of  its  features. 
By  1895,  the  Bishop  was  able  to  report  one  elemen- 
tary parish  school  in  Port-au-Prince,  and  nine  other 
similar  schools  at  various  points  with  a total  en- 
rollment of  253  pupils. 

The  other  feature  of  development  at  Port-au- 
Prince  was  the  Theological  School.  The  visit  of 
Bishop  Burgess  in  1866  had  resulted  in  the  ordina- 
tion by  him  of  two  young  Haitians,  and,  in  the 
same  year,  two  native  postulants  were  sent  to  the 
Philadelphia  Divinity  School.  But  it  was  evident 

[ 26  ] 


DIVINITY  SCHOOL,  PORT-AU-PRINCE 


CHURCH  AT  NIVARD  NEAR  MIREBALAIS 


THE  REV.  PIERRE  E.  JONES  THE  REV.  EDOUARD  C.  JONES 


that  the  best  results  could  be  secured  only  through 
the  training  of  Haitians  in  their  own  country.  Con- 
sequently, in  18/6,  the  Bishop  opened  a school  of 
theology  at  the  capital  with  a native  faculty  of  three 
men,  two  of  whom — Mr.  Jones  and  Mr.  Benedict — 
were  those  who  had  received  their  training  in  Phila- 
delphia. The  school  suffered  from  the  vicissitudes 
through  which  the  parish  passed,  and  had  to  be 
closed  at  intervals;  attempts  to  send  men  to  the 
Barbados  for  training  proved  impracticable  by  rea- 
son of  the  expense ; candidates  were,  as  before,  sent 
to  the  United  States,  among  them  happily,  two  of 
Bishop  Holly’s  sons;  but,  after  all,  no  sufficient  sub- 
stitute for  home  training  could  be  devised.  Finally, 
in  1901,  the  Rev.  Pierre  E.  Jones  who,  in  addition 
to  his  pastoral  duties,  was  principal  of  the  Govern- 
ment High  School  in  Aquin,  was  transferred  to  the 
Lancasterian  School,  at  Port-au-Prince.  This  en- 
abled the  Church  to  reopen  its  Theological  School 
with  Mr.  Jones  as  dean.  Associated  with  him  were 
the  Rev.  T.  F.  Holly  and  the  Rev.  Alexander  Bat- 
tiste.  Classes  were  conducted  in  the  evening  for 
the  six  students  who  immediately  enrolled.  Three 
others  were  desirous  of  preparing  for  Orders  but 
inadequate  funds  prevented  the  school  from  taking 
more  than  six.  For  several  years  the  school  so 
prospered  that  in  1905  it  was  decided  to  open  a 
branch  school  in  Aux  Cayes  in  the  very  southern 
part  of  the  Republic.  Not  only  did  these  two  schools 
train  up  a native  ministry  in  Haiti,  but  whenever 
possible  efforts  were  made  to  send  particularly 
brilliant  candidates  to  the  United  States  for  ad- 
ditional study. 

In  countries  such  as  Haiti,  the  physical  condition 
of  the  people  is  always  a grave  problem  and  one 
needing  as  careful  attention  by  the  Church  as  the 
minds  and  souls  of  the  populace  to  which  it  seeks 
to  minister.  This  aspect  of  the  work  of  the  Haitian 
Church  was  kept  continually  in  mind,  but  the  many 
obstacles  which  confronted  the  young  Church  pre- 

[ 29  ] 


vented  any  active  work  along  these  lines  until  1892 
when  Dr.  Alonzo  P.  Holly,  another  of  the  Bishop’s 
sons  recently  returned  from  years  of  study  in 
America,  established  a small  dispensary  for  the 
poor  at  Gonaives.  At  the  close  of  the  first  year, 
Dr.  Holly  reported  that  the  dispensary  had  treated 
557  patients,  distributed  the  necessary  medicines  to 
them  gratuitously,  and  vaccinated  200  others.  In 
addition  to  this  work,  Dr.  Holly  became  the  visiting 
physician  and  surgeon  for  the  Gonaives  Poorhouse 
conducted  by  Roman  Catholic  Sisters,  and  did  a 
useful  piece  of  co-operative  work  with  them. 

Another  venture  of  Dr.  Alonzo  Holly  during 
these  years  was  the  organization,  among  the  Eng- 
lish-speaking residents  of  Gonaives,  of  a Mutual 
Relief  Society.  The  Society  which  numbered  over 
fifty  members  created  a fund  by  charging  a small 
initiation  fee  and  monthly  dues,  which  fund  was 
applied  to  taking  care  of  members  when  sick,  to 
whom  the  doctor’s  professional  services  were  given 
gratuitously,  and  to  buying  needed  nourishment 
and  medicine. 

That  the  Haitian  Church  was  eager  to  maintain 
an  adequate  medical  mission  was  shown  by  the  fact 
that,  in  1895,  five  sons  of  Plaitian  clergy,  graduates 
either  of  medical  schools  in  the  United  States  or  of 
the  Port-au-Prince  medical  faculty,  were  ready  to 
give  their  services  to  the  Church.  Lack  of  funds 
prevented  the  building  of  a hospital  in  this  land  of 
desperate  need,  but  these  devoted  doctors,  for  ten 
years,  met  the  need  as  best  they  could.  St.  James’ 
clinic  was  established  by  Dr.  UJ oily,  in  1905,  on  land 
purchased  for  a hospital ; the  Board  of  Missions  pro- 
vided for  the  training  of  two  native  nurses;  work 
was  actually  begun  on  a building,  but  sufficient 
money  was  not  forthcoming;  and,  after  many  strug- 
gles, the  coming  of  the  American  Marines  and  the 
eventual  establishment  of  a hospital,  and  sanitary 
work  under  their  jurisdiction/made  it  unnecessary 
for  the  Church  to  continue  the  enterprise  save  for 

[ 30  ] 


the  services  of  a nurse  in  connection  with  Trinity 
parish.  Thus  the  Church,  pioneer  in  giving  med- 
ical care  to  the  people  among  whom  it  ministered, 
was  able  to  give  over  this  work  to  better  and  more 
adequately  equipped  agencies  and  to  turn  its  atten- 
tion with  redoubled  vigor  to  other  more  seriously 
neglected  needs  of  its  people. 

The  attention  of  the  Church,  during  these  years, 
was  not  solely  occupied  with  the  development  of 
institutions,  important  as  these  were.  Of  primary 
concern  was  the  extension  of  the  Church  so  as  to 
reach  as  many  individuals  as  possible,  and  the  last 
decade  of  the  nineteenth  century  showed  marked 
advance  in  this  respect.  The  financial  condition  of 
the  Republic  as  well  as  of  the  Church,  made  it  im- 
possible to  secure  land  and  erect  chapels  in  every 
town  to  which  the  Church  wished  to  carry  the 
Gospel.  Accordingly  the  clergy  made  plans  to  visit 
towns  and  hamlets  and  hold  regular  services  out  of 
doors  or  in  such  places  as  might  be  placed  at  their 
disposal.  Thus  the  Church’s  message  was  first 
carried  to  Aquin,  Petit  Boucan,  and  other  towns.  So 
effective  was  this,  that  work  of  a permanent  charac- 
ter was  soon  begun.  At  Aquin,  the  people  promised 
a site  and  a building  if  a resident  missionary  were 
sent  to  them.  Through  the  fortunate  circumstance  of 
the  appointment  of  the  Rev.  Pierre  E.  Jones  as  di- 
rector of  secondary  schools  with  headquarters  in 
Aquin  it  was  possible  to  do  this.  Until  the  prom- 
ised chapel  was  ready,  services  were  held  in  a 
spacious  rented  house.  The  residents  of  St.  Louis  of 
the  South  were  so  impressed  by  the  itinerant  serv- 
ices that  they  made  a similar  offer,  and  the  Chapel 
of  St.  George  was  soon  erected  on  land  given  by  the 
foremost  convert  of  the  town.  In  Petit  Boucan,  a 
small  country  chapel  was  erected  and  consecrated, 
July  25,  1899. 

In  the  towns  where  the  Church  had  been  longer 
established,  progress  was  also  made.  Christmas 
Day,  1891,  the  patronal  feast  of  the  parish  of  the 

[ 31  ] 


Holy  Saviour  in  Aux  Cayes,  was  a glad  day  for 
that  congregation.  A new  brick  church,  the  cul- 
mination of  nine  long  years  of  effort,  was  then  used 
for  the  first  time.  A few  years  later,  a new  rural 
chapel  was  completed  in  Trianon,  and  at  St.  Louis 
du  Nord  the  corner  post  for  a new  chapel  was 
planted  in  April,  1895.  In  1898,  following  a visit 
of  Bishop  Holly  to  Santo  Domingo,  the  Annual 
Convocation  of  the  Haitian  Church  voted  to  receive 
into  affiliation  with  it  the  congregation  organized 
at  San  Pedro  de  Macoris. 

Thus  the  Church  spread  its  influence  in  every 
direction  in  an  effort  always  to  reach  that  part  of 
the  island  population,  estimated  at  eighty  per  cent 
of  the  whole,  who  resided  mainly  in  the  rural  dis- 
tricts and  who  persisted,  in  spite  of  their  Christian 
Baptism  administered  in  infancy  by  the  Roman 
Church,  to  keep  up  their  superstitious  and  idol- 
atrous practices  of  heathenism.  Mention  has  been 
made  of  the  chain  of  rural  chapels  in  the  mountain- 
ous district  of  Leogane  where  such  excellent  prog- 
ress was  made  in  combating  this  evil.  Not  only 
were  many  sorcerers  converted  to  Christianity,  but 
eight  mystagogues  or  heathen  priests  were  converted. 
These,  not  satisfied  with  their  own  conversion,  set 
forth  into  the  mountains  seeking  after  those  who 
still  remained  in  darkness.  Such  was  the  Church 
in  Haiti  at  the  beginning  of  a new  century. 

The  impetus  given  to  the  extension  of  the  Church 
in  the  closing  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  car- 
ried over  into  the  twentieth  century.  At  Fond  a 
Cheval  near  Mirebalais  a new  congregation  was 
organized  (1900)  and  a chapel.  St.  Jude’s,  built.  In 
the  Croix  des  Martyrs  suburb  of  Port-au-Prince  a 
new  mission  was  organized  under  the  name  of  St. 
Ann’s  as  the  first  infant  baptized  there  was  called 
Ann.  In  another  suburb.  Torgeau,  the  Mission  of 
the  Epiphany  was  begun ; and.  since  the  centenary 

[ 32  ] 


year  of  Haiti’s  independence  was  then  drawing  to 
a close,  it  became  known  popularly  as  The  Centen- 
ary Mission. 

So  effective  was  the  work  of  the  Church  of  the 
Good  Saviour,  Petit  Fond,  that  news  of  it  spread 
throughout  the  district,  and  in  consequence  thereof 
the  inhabitants  of  Lascahobas,  the  chief  city  of  that 
Arrondissement  became  jealous  of  the  privileges 
and  benefits  enjoyed  by  their  smaller  neighbor  and 
of  which  they  themselves  were  deprived.  They, 
therefore,  petitioned  that  a mission  be  opened  in 
their  city.  This  the  Church  was  only  too  willing 
to  do  provided  that  the  necessary  men  and  means 
were  available.  It  was  some  time,  however,  before 
regular  services  took  the  place  of  itinerant  evangel- 
ism. 

The  Church  was  constantly  taking  advantage  of 
such  opportunities  for  occasional  services.  In  1903, 
Mr.  Benedict  thus  described  his  first  entry  into 
Cavillon,  a town  in  the  Aquin  district:  “Last 
Easter  Monday  I visited  Cavillon.  A half  dozen 
young  members  of  the  church  in  Cayes,  young  men 
and  young  women,  went  with  me  to  aid  me  in  sing- 
ing the  hymns  of  divine  service.  The  general  of  the 
Commune  extended  to  me  the  hospitality  of  his  home 
while  I was  at  Cavillon.  I preached  in  the  open 
air  from  the  forum  in  the  public  square  where  a con- 
siderable number  of  the  population  attended.  They 
paid  the  utmost  attention  to  my  discourse.  They 
invited  me  to  come  there  often,  at  least  once  a 
month.  I propose,  God  willing,  to  do  so  in  spite 
of  my  financial  embarrassments.  ‘The  harvest  is 
great,  but  the  laborers  are  few’.” 

Throughout  the  district  of  Leogane,  the  people 
were  especially  eager  for  decent  churches,  in  some 
cases  gathering  the  stones  and  burning  the  lime  by 
way  of  preparation.  Thus  it  was  not  long  before 
proper  chapels  superseded  the  old  shacks  at  the  six 
original  centres,  while  new  work  was  begun  at 
many  other  points  in  the  district. 

[ 33  ] 


With  this  expansion  of  the  work,  the  Church  was 

ministering  in  four  of  the  five  Departments  into 
which  the  Republic  was  divided.  Only  in  the  De- 
partment of  the  Northwest  was  the  Church  unable 
to  find  an  opportune  opening. 

But  it  must  not  be  imagined  that  the  first  decade 
of  the  new  century  was  one  of  unimpeded  progress. 
The  new  century  did  not  magically  eradicate  all  the 
country’s  previous  political  restlessness.  These  re- 
peated disturbances  retarded  the  Church’s  work 
especially  in  the  capital  and  there,  in  1908,  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity  was  again  destroyed  by 
fire  in  the  great  fire  of  July  5th  and  6th  which  laid 
a quarter  of  the  city  in  ashes.  Long-continued 
droughts  lasting,  in  some  instances,  no  less  than 
four  years,  also  hampered  greatly  the  normal  de- 
velopment of  the  Church  in  rural  sections. 

The  year  1911  marked  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of 
Dr.  Holly’s  work  in  Haiti,  and  the  thirty-seventh 
of  his  Episcopate.  Through  fifty  years  of  devoted, 
unfaltering  service  he  gave  himself  to  the  land  of 
his  adoption  and  the  people  whom  he  loved  until,  on 
March  13,  1911,  he  was  called  to  his  rest. 

When  Mr.  Holly  arrived  in  1861,  Haiti,  except 
for  a few  Church  members  in  the  new  colony,  was 
barren  ground  for  the  Church.  In  1874  the  Bishop 
and  his  staff  of  six  priests  and  four  deacons  were 
ministering  to  nearly  one  thousand  souls,  of  whom 
238  were  communicants,  divided  among  18  mis- 
sions. 

At  the  close  of  Bishop  Holly’s  administration, 
there  were  12  priests;  2 deacons;  2 candidates;  2 
postulants;  18  layreaders ; 54  teachers  (of  whom  9 
were  in  day-schools)  ; and  26  missions.  More  than 
2,000  souls  were  under  the  ministrations  of  clergy 
and  teachers,  with  651  communicants. 

The  National  Convocation  of  the  Haitian  Church, 
following  the  Bishop’s  death,  requested  the  Church 
in  America  to  send  a delegation  to  Haiti  to  look 

[ 34  ] 


HOLY  TRINITY  CATHEDRAL,  PORT-AU-PRINCE 


PROCESSION,  HOLY  TRINITY  CATHEDRAL,  PORT-AU-PRINCE 


CHURCH  PEOPLE  ON  THE  ISLAND  OF  GONAVE 
Many  have  never  seen  a church 


over  the  field  and  counsel  with  the  native  Church 
as  to  the  measures  to  be  adopted  which  would  best 
serve  its  interests.  Meanwhile,  the  Rev.  Pierre  E. 
Jones,  Dean  of  the  Convocation,  administered  the 
District  pending  the  decision  of  our  American 
Church.  Mr.  Jones  gives  the  following  most  sig- 
nificant information : “Only  a strongly  organized, 
national,  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  can  surely 
bring  about  a revolution  in  the  religious  views  and 
opinions  of  our  Roman  Catholic  fellow-citizens. 
The  English  Weslevans  entered  Haiti  in  1818,  and 
have  today  four  missions,  two  native  ministers,  and 
one  foreign.  The  American  Methodists  entered  the 
field  in  1824,  and  have  today  one  mission  and  one 
foreign  minister.  The  American  Baptists  entered 
the  field  in  1848,  and  have  today  three  native  min- 
isters and  three  missions.  The  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church  entered  the  field  in  1874;  and  has 
today  fifteen  well-organized  parishes,  seven  mission 
stations,  and  fifteen  ordained  native  ministers.  We 
have  also  a young  Haitian  in  the  Divinity  School 
in  Philadelphia,  and  a young  woman  in  the  Deacon- 
ess House  in  the  same  city.  After  their  courses 
are  completed,  they  will  return  home  to  strengthen 
our  little  army  of  brave  ones.” 

In  January,  1912,  the  Board  of  Missions  appoint- 
ed the  Rt.  Rev.  A.  W.  Knight,  Bishop  of  Cuba,  as 
chairman  of  the  delegation  in  response  to  the  above- 
mentioned  request.  The  Bishop,  with  his  party, 
arrived  at  Port-au-Prince  about  the  close  of  the 
month,  and  as  a sidelight  on  the  difficulties  which 
had  beset  the  path  of  Bishop  Holly,  this  extract 
from  a letter  of  Bishop  Knight  is  illuminating. 
Referring  to  Port-au-Prince  he  says: 

“There  is  a saying  that  it  has  been  burned  and 
rebuilt  every  seven  years  as  a result  of  frequent 
revolutions.” 

And  then,  as  an  earnest,  let  us  devoutly  hope,  of 
what  may  come  to  pass,  this  sketch  is  given  of  the 
newly  elected  President  Le  Conte:  “It  was  some 

[ 37  ] 


time  before  I understood  that  this  gentle  and  soft- 
spoken  Negro  was  the  chief  executive  of  this  tur- 
bulent black  republic.  There  was  nothing  uncouth 
about  him;  he  had  no  braggadocio  manners;  on  the 
contrary,  he  seemed  refined  and  effeminate.  It  was 
hard  to  realize  that  only  a few  months  before  he 
had  landed  on  his  native  shores,  after  five  years  of 
exile ; had  gathered  a few  followers ; and  had  swept 
his  course  onward  to  the  Capital,  until  the  martial 
Simon  fled  before  him.  With  his  advent  to  power, 
better  days  for  Haiti  seem  to  have  dawned.  Le 
Conte  belongs  to  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  refined 
families  of  the  Island.  He  is  grandson  of  the  first 
President,  the  military  genius  who,  taking  up  the 
sword  of  Toussaint,  completed  the  deliverance  of 
Haiti  from  France.  He  has  been  highly  educated, 
and  has  spent  much  time  abroad.  He  has  come  to 
power  when  militarism  has  ridden  his  country  for 
many  years,  and  crushed  out  its  industries.  He  is 
reversing  these  things.  The  number  (of  his  army) 
has  been  reduced.  The  new  broom  is  sweeping 
clean.  Our  Church  can  be  a great  aid  at  this  time 
if  she  rises  to  the  opportunity.” 

Bishop  Knight  met  and  advised  with  the  Council  • 
of  the  Haitian  Church,  called  in  special  session.  The 
action  taken  is  thus  described : “The  Convocation 
remained  in  session  for  a week ; and,  finally,  by  a 
practically  unanimous  vote,  passed  a resolution  re- 
questing the  American  Church  to  receive  the  Haiti- 
an Church  as  a Missionary  District.”  One  can  but 
regret,  and  deeply,  that  the  purpose  of  Bishop 
Holly’s  fifty  years  of  vision,  which  seemed  so  great 
to  him,  should  have  been  abandoned,  when  the  Con- 
vocation voted  to  relinquish  its  autonomy.  Let  us 
hope  that  this  is  but  a temporary  status. 

It  was  not  until  1913  that  General  Convention 
could  reply  to  the  request  of  the  Church  in  Haiti, 
and  meantime  Bishop  Knight  was  deputed  to  render 
episcopal  service  there.  In  that  year  General  Con- 

[ 38  ] 


vention,  having  elected  the  Rev.  Charles  B.  Col- 
more  as  Bishop  of  Porto  Rico,  appointed  him  to  the 
charge  of  the  Missionary  District  of  Haiti.  The 
connection  between  Porto  Rico  and  Haiti  is  ex- 
ceedingly remote,  and  the  means  of  transportation 
most  difficult,  so  that  Bishop  Colmore  found  a task 
impossible  to  be  done  efficiently.  Like  a good 
soldier,  he  obeyed  orders,  and  the  Church  must  take 
all  the  onus  for  the  short-comings.  He  held  the 
District  together,  promoting  the  existing  enter- 
prises, and  greatly  encouraging  the  work  of  the 
Woman’s  Auxiliary,  of  which  little  or  no  notice 
seems  previously  to  have  been  taken.  To  overcome, 
as  far  as  possible,  the  disadvantages  of  the  condi- 
tions, the  Rev.  A.  R.  Llwyd  was  appointed  com- 
missary to  the  Bishop,  and,  in  1918,  he  began  work 
in  this  capacity.  With  headquarters  in  Port-au- 
Prince,  Mr.  Llwyd  has  indefatigably  labored  to  re- 
pair rents  and  build  up  waste  places. 

In  1919,  General  Convention  resolved  that  Haiti 
must  have  a Negro  Bishop  of  its  own,  and  elected 
the  Rev.  Samuel  Grice  of  Payne  Divinity  School. 
He  felt  constrained  to  decline,  and  the  Rt.  Rev. 
Janies  C.  Morris,  of  the  Panama  Canal  Zone,  was 
appointed  to  take  the  oversight  of  the  Church  in 
Haiti. 

Bishop  Morris  immediately  visited  Haiti  and, 
during  a month’s  stay,  carefully  surveyed  the  work 
and  confirmed  224  people  in  all  parts  of  the  Repub- 
lic. Upon  his  return,  he  reported  on  the  situation 
which  he  found.  The  Church  was  confined  to  the 
southern  part  of  the  Republic  and  was  almost  en- 
tirely rural.  In  the  whole  northern  country  there 
was  no  Anglican  clergyman,  church,  or  school. 
This  was  especially  regrettable  as,  in  and  about 
Cap  Haitien,  there  were  over  seventy  West  Indian 
Negro  families  all  of  whom  were  members  of  the 
Church  of  England  and  for  whom  no  ministration 
other  than  that  of  the  Roman  Church  was  afforded. 
This  was  in  sharp  contrast  to  the  southern  area 

[ 39  ] 


where  the  parochial  schools  were  flourishing  and  well 
attended  and  doing  much  to  combat  illiteracy  which 
in  the  whole  country  claimed  ninety-seven  per  cent 
of  the  entire  population.  Bishop  Morris  felt  that 
in  the  strong  missionary  spirit  of  both  the  Arch- 
deacon and  the  Haitian  clergy,  which  was  very  evi- 
dent, rested  the  future  of  the  Church. 

The  years  between  Bishop  Holly’s  death  and  the 
delegation  of  episcopal  oversight  to  Bishop  Morris 
were  years  fraught  with  difficulty.  Not  only  was 
the  work  hampered  through  lack  of  continuous 
episcopal  oversight,  but  contrary  to  expectation, 
these  years  were  filled  with  serious  political  dis- 
turbances. During  eighteen  months  in  1914  and 
1915  there  were  no  less  than  three  uprisings,  and 
the  stagnation  in  every  aspect  of  life  during  these 
disturbances,  when  communication  between  cities 
and  rural  districts  was  absolutely  cut  off,  was  be- 
yond description.  The  chronic  revolutionary  spirit, 
culminating  in  1915  in  the  overthrow  of  the  Gov- 
ernment and  the  murder  of  the  President,  led,  in 
the  next  year,  to  the  American  occupation  of  the 
Republic  in  an  effort  to  restore  order  and  stabilize 
the  Government.  A treaty  was  entered  into  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  Haiti  whereby  the 
United  States  was  given  a ten-year  protectorate 
over  Haiti,  thus  insuring  such  peace  and  order  as 
would  allow  for  the  proper  economic  development 
of  the  land.  In  such  a situation  the  opportunity  of 
the  Church  was  unparalleled,  and  the  need  for  an 
American  missionary  of  the  utmost  urgency.  The 
presence  of  the  Marines  in  Haiti  aided  the  work 
of  the  Church  in  many  ways,  especially  through 
the  construction  of  new  roads  whereby  travel 
between  the  widely-scattered  towns  was  facilitated. 
The  varied  activities  of  Trinity  parish  attracted 
favorable  attention,  and  presently  means  were  se- 
cured to  erect  a suitable  building  for  The  Day 
Nursery  on  the  Church’s  property. 

[ 40  ] 


THE  RT.  REV.  HARRY  R.  CARSON,  D.D. 
Second  Bishop  of  Haiti,  1923 — 


FORDING  A HAITIAN  RIVER 


BISHOP  CARSON  ON  A FLYING  VISITATION 


The  coming  of  Archdeacon  Llwyd  in  1918,  gave 
new  impetus  to  the  work,  and  it  became  increasingly 
apparent  that  the  Church  in  Haiti  should  have  a 
resident  Bishop.  This  was  eventually  realized,  and 
the  General  Convention  of  1922  elected,  as  Bishop 
of  Haiti,  the  Ven.  Harry  Roberts  Carson,  Arch- 
deacon of  Panama.  Three  years  later,  his  Mission- 
ary District  was,  like  Porto  Rico,  made  a part  of 
Province  II. 

Archdeacon  Carson  was  consecrated  on  January 
10,  1923,  in  the  Cathedral  of  St.  John  the  Divine, 
New  York,  and  proceeded  at  once  to  his  field,  arriv- 
ing there  the  next  month  where,  on  February  18, 
1923,  he  was  formally  inducted  as  Bishop  of  Haiti 
in  Holy  Trinity  Church,  Port-au-Prince.  He  im- 
mediately appointed  Mr.  Llwyd,  who  had  been 
commissary  in  Haiti  of  both  Bishops  Colmore  and 
Morris,  as  Archdeacon  of  Port-au-Prince  with 
special  responsibility  for  the  training  and  oversight 
of  candidates  for  Holy  Orders.  Before  the  close  of 
the  year,  Bishop  Carson  had  visited  practically  every 
one  of  his  mission-stations  and  had  confirmed  511 
persons.  On  his  visitations,  he  found  an  appaling- 
ly  widespread  illiteracy,  and  the  people  living  in 
the  most  primitive  simplicity  of  life.  Dire  poverty 
existed  everywhere,  making  even  moderate  self- 
support  an  objective  not  to  be  realized  at  once. 

Everywhere,  he  found  buildings  classed  as  chapels 
hardly  more  than  rude  shacks  of  bamboo  plastered 
with  mud,  sometimes  whitewashed  but  more  often 
au  naturel.  Every  mission  presented  a pitiful  plea 
to  open  a school,  and  in  only  a few  cases  was  the 
Bishop  able  to  respond  by  using  funds  from  his 
discretionary  purse.  On  one  of  his  visitations,  a 
thin,  ill-clad  boy  said  to  Bishop  Carson,  “Give  us 
a school  like  the  Americans  have,  and  when  next 
you  come  I’ll  make  you  a speech.” 

The  Haitians  are  natural  orators,  with  the  spirit 
of  the  French  Revolution  still  strong  within  them. 
Off  in  the  heart  of  the  bush  the  most  illiterate  of 


[ 43  ] 


them  will  burst  into  eloquent  speech  upon  all  occa- 
sions, and  one  unexpectedly  comes  upon  “Mira- 
beau”,  “Robespierre”,  “Aristide”,  or  “Plato” — all 
names  of  solemn  round-eyed  Haitian  urchins  who 
have  never  been  more  than  half  a mile  from  the 
shadow  of  the  mango  tree  beneath  which  they  were 
born.  A year  after  the  above  incident,  a ten  year 
old  lad  in  a fervent  speech,  thanked  the  Bishop  for 
the  school  which,  in  the  interval,  had  been  started. 

And  such  a school ! A pitiful  little  thing  where 
the  children  squat  under  a roofing  of  thatch,  and 
imbibe  what  knowledge  may  be  imparted  by  the 
local  priest.  Education  and  a knowledge  of  the  Re- 
deemer are  serious  matters  to  these  bush-dwellers. 

In  1924,  Bishop  Carson  had  so  far  drawn  together 
his  disorganized  District  that  he  was  able  to  in- 
augurate several  advance  projects.  Of  these  the 
Bishop  wrote  in  his  1924  Report: 

“There  have  been  three  outstanding  achievements 
during  the  past  year:  The  organization  of  a theo- 
logical seminary,  the  formal  inauguration  of  social 
service  work  by  the  Church,  and  the  marked  in- 
crease in  the  number  of  primary  schools.  To  each 
of  these,  I venture  to  call  attention  briefly. 

“From  the  very  beginning  of  missionary  work  in 
this  Island,  the  perplexing  problem  has  been  the 
securing  of  a ministry.  There  is  not — there  has  not 
been — a lack  of  volunteers,  but  there  has  been  a 
lack  of  sufficient  preliminary  training  which  would 
give  one  the  hope  of  a ministry  ‘learned  as  the 
canons  require’,  giving  to  them  the  most  liberal 
construction.  It  was  the  first  task  of  Bishop  Holly; 
and,  later,  priests  such  as  the  Rev.  Mr.  Benedict, 
who  has  just  died,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Pierre  E.  Jones,  and 
the  Rev.  Albert  R.  Llwyd  have  attempted  it  in  the 
face  of  tremendous  difficulties.  As  I write,  I have 
by  me  a letter  of  Bishop  Holly,  written  almost  fifty 
years  ago,  in  which  he  refers  to  his  concern  with 
this  matter.  He  says,  ‘These  young  men  have  to 
gain  their  livelihood  at  a daily  occupation 

[ 44  ] 


BISHOP  CARSON  DEDICATING  A COUNTRY  CHAPEL 


NATIVE  MARKET  PLACE,  CASSELLE 


CHAPEL  OF  THE  REDEEMER,  LEOGANE  CHAPEL  IN  MOUNTAIN  DISTRICT,  HAITI 


Mr.  therefore  occupies  himself  with  the 

postulants  from  7 to  8 A.  M.,  and  from  5 to  6 P.  M.' 
Only  the  progress  of  a snail  is  possible  under  such 
conditions.  It  has  been  largely  such  through  all 
the  years  and  the  wonder  is  that  anything  should 
have  been  accomplished  at  all. 

“On  St.  Michael’s  Day  last,  in  a house  which 
I have  leased  for  two  years,  with  a faculty  com- 
posed of  myself,  Archdeacon  Llwyd  as  dean,  the 
Rev.  Pierre  E.  Jones  and  the  Rev.  Edouard  C.  Jones, 
a theological  school  was  opened  with  four  young 
men.  They  are  following  as  closely  as  possible  the 
regime  of  older  seminaries,  living  in  community  and 
after  rule,  lending  assistance  to  the  mission  field 
in  and  about  Port-au-Prince,  making  their  prep- 
aration for  the  ministry  the  principal,  and  not  a 
subordinate,  concern  of  their  lives.  It  is  my  hope 
that  by  the  end  of  this  year  they  will  be  sufficiently 
advanced  to  receive  ordination  to  the  diaconate  and 
thus  be  able  to  render  larger  service  during  their 
period  of  preparation.  That  this  work  might  be 
carried  on  not  experimentally  but  as  a part  of  the 
normal  life  of  the  Church  through  the  future  is  my 
earnest  hope.  A rented  building  and  a lack  of 
assured  financial  support  will  keep  it  in  the  experi- 
mental zone,  but  a building  of  its  own  and  assurance 
of  financial  backing,  with  a slightly  enlarged 
faculty,  will  be  a tower  of  strength  for  the  Church 
in  Haiti. 

“Mrs.  Estelle  Swann  Royce,  identified  for  a num- 
ber of  years  with  many  of  the  social  service  acti- 
vities in  the  Panama  Canal  Zone,  volunteered  for 
service  in  Haiti  upon  the  conclusion  of  her  work  in 
Panama,  and  she  entered  upon  her  new  field  in  the 
early  fall  of  last  year.  That  which  is  so  common 
and  familiar  elsewhere — opportunity  for  girls  and 
women  to  attain  a measure  of  self-support— is  rarer 
and  less  known  in  Haiti.  Many  of  them  have  re- 
markable natural  skill  with  the  needle,  but  it  has 
been  difficult  to  find  a market  which  would  be 


[ 47  ] 


always  open  to  them.  An  occasional  tourist  is  an 
uncertain  reed  upon  which  to  lean.  Mrs.  Royce 
has  undertaken  to  be  the  liaison  officer  for  this  work. 
She  has  added  also  the  grade  of  domestic  science 
to  the  school  which  has  been  so  successfully  di- 
rected by  Miss  Marianne  Jones,  not  giving  every- 
thing that  domestic  science  means  but  some  part  of 
it,  at  least  the  first  step. 

“Our  work  is  being  strengthened  daily  by  the  pri- 
mary schools  which  are  now  being  conducted  in 
various  parts  of  the  Island  in  connection  with  the 
work  of  some  of  the  more  important  missions. 
These  schools  receive  modest  assistance  from  the 
National  Council.  The  list  should  be  extended  until 
every  principal  mission  shall  have  its  school  along- 
side. Otherwise,  it  is  the  Roman  Catholic  parochial 
school  during  the  week  and  a scant  hour  on  a Sun- 
day for  this  Church  to  care  for  its  little  ones.  The 
happiest  experiences  of  my  work  as  Bishop  are  my 
visits  to  the  schools,  to  witness  happiness  of  parents 
and  gratefulness  of  children  for  what  the  American 
Church  has  done  for  them.  I venture  to  hope  that 
I may  open  two  or  three  additional  schools  next 
year.” 

The  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  Port-au-Prince, 
throughout  the  entire  history  of  the  Haitian  Mis- 
sion seemed  to  epitomize  the  vicissitudes  through 
which  the  whole  Mission  passed.  Not  unnaturally, 
Bishop  Carson  wished  to  establish  in  Port-au-Prince 
a fitting  centre  for  the  whole  Mission  in  Haiti.  Plans 
were,  therefore,  drawn  for  a cathedral  church,  and 
the  hope  was  entertained  of  laying  the  cornerstone 
on  November  8,  1924,  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of 
Bishop  Holly’s  consecration.  Unhappily,  storms 
intervened  and  the  event  was  postponed  until  Feb- 
ruary 8,  1925.  At  the  close  of  that  year  there  were 
still  no  funds  with  which  to  build  the  church,  but 
Bishop  Carson  was  laboring  valiantly  to  secure 
them  as  well  as  to  find  means  of  extending  his  work 

[ 48  ] 


in  such  outlying  places  as  the  Island  of  Gonave, 
Casalles,  Port  de  Paix,  and  Ravines  aux  Lianes. 

When  the  field  is  surveyed,  the  report  of  Bishop 
Lee  is  remembered,  “It  will  not  be  worthwhile  to 
prosecute  the  Mission  without  suitable  buildings. 
A convenient  and  appropriate  church  is  a sine  qua 
non,  and  accommodation  for  schools  and  a resi- 
dence, for  one  missionary,  at  least,  is  of  the  first  im- 
portance.” The  situation  is  much  the  same  today, 
and  in  order  that  Bishop  Carson  may  prosecute  his 
Mission  with  the  utmost  vigor  and  effectiveness 
every  American  Churchman  must  co-operate  loyally 
with  him. 


"BISHOP,  PLEASE  GIVE  US  A SCHOOL" 


t 49  ] 


GATEWAY  TO  SANTO  DOMINGO 


The  Dominican  Republic 

The  eastern  two-thirds  of  the  Island  of  Haiti  is 
occupied  by  the  Dominican  Republic,  with  a popula- 
tion of  nearly  900,000,  an  agreeable  climate,  and  a 
soil  of  exceptional  fertility.  The  history  of  the 
country,  however,  has  been  anything  but  peaceful. 

The  treaty  of  1795  between  Spain  and  France  had 
given  the  whole  Island  to  France;  but,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  people  of  the  western  portion  revolted 
successfully,  and,  in  1804,  set  up  the  Republic  of 
Haiti.  In  the  eastern  part  of  the  Island,  Spain  still 
maintained  a precarious  hold  until  1821  when  she 
was  finally  forced  to  withdraw.  Thereupon  Haiti 
invaded  her  sister  Republic  and,  for  more  than 
twenty  years,  held  the  whole  Island  under  one  rule. 
Geographical  features,  however,  as  well  as  differ- 
ence of  language,  tend  to  separation,  and  in  1844 
the  Spanish-speaking  people  of  the  eastern  portion 
succeeded  in  setting  up  their  own  Dominican  Re- 
public independent  of  their  French-speaking  neigh- 
bor on  the  west. 

As  in  the  case  of  Haiti,  the  history  of  the  younger 
Republic  does  not  make  pleasant  reading.  Revolu- 
tion and  corruption  marked  its  course. 

In  1870,  President  Grant  planned  to  annex  the 
Dominican  Republic  or,  at  least,  to  secure  a pro- 
tectorate. This  failed,  and  the  disturbances  in  the 
Republic  continued,  with  an  ever-increasing  debt, 
until  the  situation  was  so  grave  that  in  February, 
1905,  our  Secretary  of  State,  John  Hay,  in  order 
to  forestall  armed  and  indefinite  European  inter- 
vention, negotiated  a protocol  which  provided  that 
the  United  States  should  adjust  the  debts  of  the 
Dominican  Republic  and  administer  the  Custom 
House  receipts.  On  April  1,  1905,  an  agent  of  the 

[ 51  ] 


United  States  took  charge  of  the  Republic’s  fiscal 
administration;  and,  two  years  later,  a formal  treaty 
between  the  two  Governments  was  signed. 

Although  the  debt  of  the  Republic  has  been  great- 
ly reduced  since  the  intervention  by  the  United 
States,  conditions  there  are  exceedingly  backward. 
There  are  few  roads  suitable  for  wheeled  vehicles. 
Most  of  the  so-called  roads  are  mere  mule  tracks,  and 
are  allowed  to  take  care  of  themselves.  Travel  is 
mainly  on  pony,  mule,  or  donkey  back;  and,  in  the 
rural  districts,  bullocks  are  trained  as  mounts  for 
women  and  children.  A recent  observer  in  Santo 
Domingo  writes:  “Without  excepting  even  the 
worst  roads  in  China  or  Russia,  or  even  in  the 
United  States,  there  is  nothing  to  equal  the  mockery 
of  these  supposedly  connecting  links  between  cities 
and  the  rural  districts  in  the  Dominican  Republic.” 

Mention  has  been  made  in  this  Handbook  of 
Bishop  Holly’s  visit  to  the  Dominican  town  of  San 
Pedro  de  Macoris  in  February,  1898,  where  he  met 
the  Haitian  deacon,  the  Rev.  B.  I.  Wilson,  advanced 
him  to  the  priesthood,  consecrated  his  little  church, 
and  administered  confirmation  to  members  of  his 
congregation.  After  the  Bishop’s  return  to  Haiti, 
this  congregation,  as  has  been  noted,  was  taken  into 
union  with  the  Church  in  Haiti.  Mr.  Wilson  con- 
tinued his  work  in  San  Pedro  de  Macoris  in  spite 
of  the  frequent  and  often  disastrous  political  dis- 
turbances which  surrounded  him,  and  even  made 
efforts  to  extend  the  Mission  to  La  Romano  and 
Santo  Domingo  City,  the  capital  of  the  Republic; 
but  these  efforts  had  no  permanent  results  owing 
to  Mr.  Wilson’s  lack  of  facilities  for  travel.  For 
fifteen  years,  the  Mission  had  to  get  along  as  best 
it  could  with  but  little  notice  or  encouragement  on 
the  part  of  the  American  Church. 

The  West  Indian  Bishops  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land called  the  attention  of  the  American  Church 
to  the  fact  that  large  numbers  of  their  people  had 
emigrated  from  their  Dioceses  of  Antigua,  Barba- 

[ 52  ] 


dos,  and  Jamaica,  and  settled  in  the  southern  part 
of  the  Dominican  Republic.  It  was  pointed  out 
that  this  Republic  fell  naturally  with  the  sphere  of 
influence  of  the  American  Church,  and  we  were 
asked  to  do  what  we  could  for  these  people.  In 
response  to  this  memorandum,  the  House  of 
Bishops,  in  1913,  passed  a resolution  to  the  effect 
that  the  Bishop  of  Porto  Rico  should  take  jurisdic- 
tion over  “such  Christian  people  in  Santo  Domingo 
as  may  have  asked  or  may  hereafter  ask  for  his 
pastoral  oversight.” 

The  Bishop  of  Porto  Rico,  the  Rt.  Rev.  C.  B.  Col- 
more,  at  once  set  out  to  find  men  qualified  for  the 
work — a difficult  task  because,  as  yet,  this  neigh- 
boring Republic  was  unknown  to  Americans  of  the 
north.  How  completely  this  was  true  was  not  real- 
ized until  we  sent  our  first  missionary  down  in 
1918.  The  accounts  given  of  his  trials  during  the 
first  three  months  remind  one  of  the  experiences 
eighty  years  earlier  of  our  first  missionaries  in 
China.  Not  only  was  a North  American  an  unwel- 
come curiosity,  but  there  were  not  enough  people 
understanding  English  to  make  it  possible  to  secure 
a decent  place  to  live  and  proper  food  to  eat.  Al- 
most the  whole  first  year  was  a continuous  tale  of 
hardship.  In  opening  up  other  missions  we  have 
generally  followed  workers  from  other  North  Amer- 
ican missionary  organizations  and,  therefore,  our 
representatives  have  not  been  the  pioneers.  In  the 
Dominican  Republic  they  were  pioneers. 

The  first  missionary,  the  Rev.  William  Wyllie 
with  his  wife  and  children,  arrived  in  Santo  Do- 
mingo City,  on  January  17,  1918.  The  following 
extract  from  a letter  written  by  him  at  the  time, 
gives  some  idea  of  the  conditions  which  had  to  be 
faced : 

“On  landing  here,  the  experiences  many  and 
various  through  which  we  passed  drove  reason  and 
common  sense  entirely  to  the  winds.  Our  utter 

[ 53  ] 


helplessness,  and  the  hopelessness  of  the  duty  given 
us  seemed  too  potent.  We  wandered  about  town 
looking  for  a place  to  sleep  in,  and  eat.  Hotels 
were  crowded,  and  the  food  out  of  the  question  until 
hunger  made  us  swallow  it.  We  managed,  before 
the  day  was  over,  to  get  one  small  room  with  three 
beds  put  up  in  it,  no  space  to  turn.  The  place  was 
clean,  but  there  was  no  ‘Pied  Piper  of  Hamlin’  to 
charm  the  rats.  Three  nights  of  that  at  $8.00  a 
day  simply  ended  my  reasoning  faculty.  We 
tramped  the  town  late  and  early  to  find  a house  to 
rent.  On  the  morning  of  the  fourth  day  we  found 
rooms  (two)  in  the  French  Hotel  and  there  we  re- 
mained until  January  25th  when  we  found  a house. 

“We  cannot  afford  to  rent  a place  for  public  wor- 
ship, and  I have  searched  the  town  for  a place  that 
would  be  anything  like  suitable.  That  a minister 
is  needed  here  in  the  city  goes  without  saying — and 
there  is  more  than  enough  for  one  man  to  do.  I have 
not  been  idle  one  moment  since  I landed,  speaking, 
talking  and  teaching  to  any  one  who  would  listen 
in  the  public  park  and  in  soldiers  tents.” 

Finally  Mr.  Wyllie  was  able  to  begin  regular 
work  at  Fort  Ozama  where,  centuries  before,  Co- 
lumbus had  been  imprisoned  before  being  sent  to 
Spain  in  chains.  Here  Mr.  Wyllie  ministered  to 
the  American  Marines  who  were  sorely  in  need  of 
his  services.  This  work  continued  until  a chaplain 
was  appointed  for  the  Marines,  when  Mr.  Wyllie 
moved  his  chapel  to  the  building  occupied  by  the 
American  Collector  of  Customs.  The  congregation 
continued  to  be  composed  largely  of  American 
officers  and  civilians,  though  gradually  the  English- 
speaking  colored  people  were  attracted  to  the 
Church. 

As  soon  as  a beginning  had  been  made  in  the 
capital  and  a fund  for  the  erection  of  a church  had 
been  begun,  Mr.  Wyllie  turned  his  attention  to  the 
West  Indian  Negroes  in  the  Republic  on  whose  be- 
half the  American  Church  had  been  called  to  the 


[ 54  ] 


RIVER  SCENE,  DOMINICAN  REPUBLIC 


BASKET  MAN,  DOMINICAN  REPUBLIC 


ST.  STEPHEN’S  SCHOOL,  SAN  PEDRO  DE  MACORIS 


ST.  GABRIEL’S  CHURCH,  CONSUELO 


Island.  Services  were  soon  begun  at  San  Isidro,  a 
plantation  near  the  capital ; Boca  Chica,  a sugar  fac- 
tory; La  Romana,  a town  in  the  centre  of  an  im- 
portant sugar  development ; Consuelo,  a large  plan- 
tation near  San  Pedro  de  Macoris,  and  at  Puerto 
Plata  on  the  north  coast  which  was  made  accessible 
through  the  opening  of  the  first  road  across  the 
Island  between  Santo  Domingo  City  and  Santiago 
de  los  Caballeros. 

By  reason  of  the  patient  and  courageous  work  of 
Mr.  Wilson,  as  noted  above,  San  Pedro  de  Macoris 
presented  the  largest  opportunity.  Mr.  Wilson  who 
had  struggled  along  unaided  without  salary  or  other 
adequate  support  for  many  years,  was  placed  in 
charge  of  the  Spanish-speaking  work;  and,  in  1921, 
he  was  joined  by  the  Rev.  A.  H.  Beer  sent  out  to 
minister  to  the  thousands  of  West  Indian  Negroes 
around  San  Pedro  de  Macoris.  Through  his  efforts 
a church  was  erected  as  well  as  a rectory  and  school 
building,  while  the  gift  of  an  automobile  from  the 
people  of  the  Republic  enabled  him  to  extend  his 
work  as  well  as  to  deepen  its  influence  where  al- 
ready established.  Still,  the  lot  of  our  missionaries 
in  the  Republic— the  Wyllies  at'  Santo  Domingo, 
and  the  two  priests  at  San  Pedro — was  no  easy  one, 
and  it  was  not  until  seven  years  of  hard  toil  were 
accomplished  that  the  Mission  seemed  at  length 
well  established;  a result  due  in  large  measure  to 
the  co-operation  of  the  Marines. 

The  work,  save  for  Epiphany  School  in  Santo  Do- 
mingo City,  and  St.  Stephen’s  School  in  San  Pedro 
de  Macoris,  was  entirely  evangelistic,  carried  on 
from  three  centres — Santo  Domingo  City,  San 
Pedro  de  Macoris,  and  La  Romana,  in  the  first  two 
of  which  there  was,  as  we  have  seen,  a resident 
priest,  while  the  third  was  in  charge  of  a lay  reader. 

In  Santo  Domingo  City  we  had  a large  and  well 
located  plot  on  the  main  street  just  outside  the  old 
city.  Here  a rectory  provided  a home  for  Arch- 

[ 57  ] 


deacon  Wyllie;  a temporary  chapel  served  a goodly 
number  of  American  residents  ; and  a portable  build- 
ing donated  by  tbe  Government  served  as  a parish 
school.  The  ground  was  ample  for  any  future  de- 
velopment of  both  the  church  and  school.  From 
the  city,  the  priest  was  enabled  to  make  journeys 
to  the  neighboring  plantations. 

At  San  Pedro  de  Macoris  was  a similar  work- 
chapel,  school,  and  rectory — called  St.  Stephen’s 
Mission.  There  was  also  a small  chapel  in  which 
services  were  conducted  by  the  old  native  priest. 
From  the  city,  Mr.  Beer  made  journeys  to  conduct 
missions  on  neighboring  plantations.  At  one  of 
these,  Consuelo,  the  plantation  authorities  erected 
a chapel  and  presented  it  to  us.  This  chapel,  St. 
Gabriel’s,  was  consecrated  in  October,  1924,  and 
served  5,000  English-speaking  colored  laborers  on 
the  plantation. 

It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  as  yet  only  a be- 
ginning has  been  made  in  the  Dominican  Republic. 
But  then,  nothing  has  begun  there  yet,  not  even 
commerce.  Of  course,  the  beginning  of  civilization 
in  the  Western  Hemisphere  was  actually  made 
where  the  city  of  Santo  Domingo  now  is,  by  Chris- 
topher Columbus,  in  1494.  But  nothing  came  of  his 
efforts,  and  it  is  often  said  that  the  country  is  just 
as  it  was  when  Columbus  built  there  the  first  stone 
church  and  the  first  cathedral  and  the  first  fortified 
city  in  the  New  World. 

When  a Church  is  confronted  by  a land  as  unde- 
veloped as  this,  the  Macedonian  call  is  very  loud. 
The  mere  fact  that  priests  of  a Church  went  there 
with  Columbus  and  built  cathedrals  and  churches, 
proves  nothing,  since  those  very  churches  and  ca- 
thedrals have  been  all  but  abandoned  these  two  cen- 
turies. Outside  of  the  cities  themselves,  the  people 
know  nothing  about  the  simplest  facts  of  religion. 
When  our  Archdeacon  first  visited  the  prison  in  the 
capital  city,  he  was  told  that  he  was  the  first  min- 

[ 58  ] 


ister  of  the  Gospel  who  had  entered  it  within  the 
memory  of  man.  At  the  time  of  writing,  not  only 
were  the  people  of  the  Dominican  Republic  largely 
unevangelized — the  best  of  reasons  for  the  presence 
of  our  Church  there, — but  there  was  every  reason  for 
believing  that  the  country  was  soon  to  be  opened 
to  business  enterprise.  To  allow  this  to  occur 
without  the  Church  would  be  a disastrous  policy. 
The  Church  must  get  there  first  and  be  waiting  to 
receive  the  pioneers  of  commerce. 


EPIPHANY  SCHOOL,  SANTO  DOMINGO  CITY 


[ 59  ] 


Porto  Rico 


Due  east  from  Santo  Domingo  across  the  narrow 
Mona  Passage  lies  Porto  Rico.  “The  Beautiful 
Isle  of  Somewhere.”  It  is  the  most  densely  pop- 
ulated region  in  the  western  hemisphere,  having 
over  a million  and  a quarter  people  living  in 
an  area  of  less  than  four  thousand  square  miles  in 
extent.  At  least  seventy-five  per  cent  of  the  pop- 
ulation live  in  rural  districts,  and  it  is  impossible 
anywhere  on  the  Island  to  get  out  of  sight  of  a 
house.  In  this  land  the  organized  work  of  the 
American  Church  dates  from  the  annexation  of  the 
Island  to  the  United  States  in  1898.  The  American 
Army  of  Occupation  numbered  among  its  chaplains 
several  priests  of  the  Church,  and  one  of  these,  the 
Rev.  H.  A.  Brown,  began  regular  services  at  once 
in  Mayaguez.  It  was  not  until  the  following  year, 
however,  that  the  first  appointee  of  the  Board  of 
Missions — the  Rev.  George  B.  Pratt — -started  ser- 
vices in  the  historic  old  town  of  San  Juan  de  Porto 
Rico,  founded  and  so  named  by  Columbus  in  1493. 
Here,  on  March  11,  1899,  the  first  service  of  our 
American  Church  was  held,  in  a hall  loaned  for  the 
purpose  by  a Porto  Rican.  These,  however,  were 
not  the  first  non-Roman  services  to  be  held  in  Porto 
Rico.  Thirty  years  prior  to  this,  upon  the  procla- 
mation of  religious  freedom  in  Porto  Rico  by  the 
Spanish  Government,  a group  of  foreign  students 
met  to  discuss  the  feasibility  of  establishing  a non- 
Roman  church  in  Porto  Rico.  As  a result  of  this 
meeting,  the  first  non-Roman  service  to  be  held  on 
the  Island  took  place  in  the  home  of  Mr.  Thomas  G. 
Salomons,  at  Ponce.  Upon  the  invitation  of  a large 
group  of  Protestant  and  Anglican  residents,  and 
with  the  co-operation  of  the  Bishop  of  Antigua,  the 

[ 61  ] 


Rev.  J.  C.  DuBois  of  St.  Croix,  Danish  West  Indies, 
came  over  to  conduct  this  service  which  was  at- 
tended by  over  two  hundred  persons.  As  a result  of 
this  meeting,  there  was  organized  Holy  Trinity 
Parish  which  held  its  first  regular  service  on  the 
Feast  of  the  Epiphany,  1872.  The  parish  at  first 
came  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Bishop  of  An- 
tigua ; but  upon  the  cession  of  Porto  Rico  to  the 
United  States  and  the  consequent  transfer  of  epis- 
copal jurisdiction  to  the  American  Church,  the  work 
at  Mayaguez,  San  Juan,  and  Ponce,  became  our 
responsibilty.  Besides  these  three  centres,  there 
were,  at  that  time,  only  a small  Lutheran  Sunday 
School  and  a union  service  inaugurated  by  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A. 

During  the  early  years  of  the  Mission  it  was 
under  the  care  of  Diocesan  Bishops  in  America.  At 
the  request  of  Bishop  Moreland  of  Sacramento  who 
was  in  charge  in  1900,  Bishop  Whipple  of  Minne- 
sota visited  the  Island  to  study  social  and  religious 
conditions  there.  Upon  his  return  to  the  United 
States,  he  urged  the  immediate  appointment  of  a 
Bishop. 

The  General  Convention  of  1901  recognized  the 
great  need  for  a Bishop  in  Porto  Rico  and  elected 
the  Rev.  William  C.  Brown  of  Brazil  (now  Bishop 
of  Virginia).  He  did  not  feel  able,  at  the  time,  to 
abandon  his  important  Brazilian  work,  and  the  next 
year,  the  House  of  Bishops  in  special  session  elected 
the  Rev.  James  H.  Van  Buren.  When  elected,  Mr. 
Van  Buren  was  rector  of  St.  John's  Church,  San 
Juan,  having  gone  to  Porto  Rico  in  1901. 

When  Mr.  Van  Buren  assumed  the  rectorship  of 
St.  John’s  Church,  he  surveyed  the  situation  and 
said  that  the  Church  was  needed  in  Porto  Rico  in 
order  that  “the  American  life  which  is  flowing  in 
here  may  be  kept  true  to  Christ”  and  that  it  should 
help  the  Americans  to  be  exemplars  of  the  higher 
life  and  thus  impress  upon  the  Porto  Ricans  the 

[ 62  ] 


THE  RT.  REV.  JAMES  H.  VAN  BUREN,  D.D. 
First  Bishop  of  Porto  Rico,  1902-1912 


STREET  IN  PONCE,  PORTO  RICO 


SAN  JUAN  GATE 


fact  that,  “in  exchanging  Spanish  for  American  su- 
premacy, they  had  not  become  subjects  or  citizens 
of  a non-Christian  nation.”  “It  is  important,”  he 
added,  “that  the  Church  should  bear  no  inferior  part 
in  stemming  the  un-Christian  tide  of  immigration 
against  which  every  American  in  Porto  Rico  must 
make  a struggle.”  Upon  his  elevation  to  the  epis- 
copate, he  was  at  once  brought  face  to  face  with 
the  problems,  not  of  an  English-speaking  parish 
only,  but  of  the  people  of  Porto  Rico  at  large. 
These  problems  were  of  peculiar  difficulty,  since 
the  native  population  presented  an  amalgamation 
of  three  widely  different  races,  and  had  the  distinct- 
ive traits  of  all  three — Indian,  African,  and  Span- 
iard. From  the  Indian,  the  Porto  Rican  derived  his 
indolence,  taciturnity,  sobriety,  disinterestedness, 
and  hospitality;  from  the  African  Negro,  great 
physical  endurance,  but  coupled  with  sensuality  and 
fatalism  ; from  the  Spaniard,  devotion  to  his  coun- 
try, independence,  and  the  spirit  of  chivalry.  In  his 
first  annual  report  Bishop  Van  Buren  wrote: 

“History  displays  no  exact  parallel  to  the  present 
situation.  We  are  witnessing  here  a peaceful  revo- 
lution of  ideas,  not  wrought  out  by  violence.  Ex- 
termination forms  no  part  of  the  programme. 

“The  dominant  type  of  religion  among  the  Latin 
races,  is,  of  course,  the  Roman  Catholic,  in  its  local 
adaptations;  the  Hispano-Roman  interpretation  of 
the  Gospel  is  the  only  conception  of  the  Christian 
faith  and  worship  these  people  have  ever  been 
taught.  They  have  received  the  impression  that 
whatever  did  not  conform  to  that  must  of  necessity 
be  atheism.  It  is  not  surprising  that  the  exclusive 
teaching  of  that  system  should  have  resulted,  as  it 
has,  in  many  saints,  much  superstition,  gross  ig- 
norance, and  widespread  indifference.  The  ad- 
herence of  the  vast  majority  of  the  people  to  any 
vestige  of  the  Christian  faith  is  purely  nominal.  To 
ears  accustomed  to  a religion  of  ceremonial,  it  is  a 
new  thing  to  hear  of  a religion  which  adds  to  faith, 

[ 65  ] 


virtue,  and  measures  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit  in  terms 
of  conduct  and  character  as  well  as  in  splendor  of 
worship. 

“Again,  antiquated  methods  of  indiscriminate 
almsgiving,  as  a means  of  securing  the  favor  of  the 
saints,  has  made  beggary  a profitable  industry.  The 
abuse  of  the  system  of  orphan  asylums  has  had  a 
tendency  to  increase  illegitimacy,  already  abnormal 
in  its  proportions  from  a variety  of  causes. 

“Social  distinctions  here  are  strongly  marked  and 
sharply  drawn.  Among  the  upper  classes  one  finds 
the  racial  tendencies  and  prejudices  most  inveterate. 
The  process  of  Americanization,  while  it  is  not  lack- 
ing in  all  classes,  has  thus  far  made  its  greatest 
advances  among  the  children  and  among  the  people 
who  are  not  high  in  social  rank.  It  is  also  the  uni- 
versal experience  among  the  missionaries  of  every 
name»that  the  people  of  greatest  influence,  wealth, 
and  social  distinction,  do  not  attend  their  services. 
It  is  as  true  here  as  St.  Paul  found  it  in  the  lands 
where  his  mission  took  him,  that  God  hath  chosen 
the  weak  things ; and  that  not  many  great,  not 
many  mighty,  are  found  among  the  listeners  to  the 
Gospel  of  the  meek  and  lowly  One. 

“And  yet,  the  people  here  are  eager  for  the  Word 
of  God.  Wherever  there  is  a missionary  who  can 
speak  to  them  in  their  own  tongue  wherein  they 
were  born,  his  services  are  crowded.  The  common 
people  hear  him  gladly.” 

Such  was  Bishop  Van  Buren’s  estimate  of  the 
problem  which  confronted  him.  Immediately,  he 
inaugurated  a determined  effort  to  extend  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Church  as  widely  as  possible.  The 
tenth  anniversary  of  the  raising  of  the  American  flag 
over  Guanica  Bay,  celebrated  on  July  25,  1908, 
marked  the  close  of  Bishop  Van  Buren’s  first  six 
years  as  leader  of  the  Church  in  Porto  Rico.  They 
had  been  fruitful  years.  The  number  of  mission 
stations  had  increased  from  three  to  eighteen;  five 

[ 66  ] 


schools  and  one  hospital  had  been  established ; and 
in  many  chapels  and  preaching  places  the  Gospel 
was  being  proclaimed.  From  San  Juan,  Ponce,  and 
Mayaguez  the  Church  had  gone  forth  into  Puerta 
de  Tierra,  a suburb  of  San  Juan  where  services 
were  begun  at  St.  Luke’s  Mission  on  February  15, 
1903 ; at  La  Carmelita,  a plantation  near  Ponce,  at 
Aguas  Buenas,  Santurce,  Pueblo  Viejo,  and  Vie- 
ques, Church  services  were  held,  as  well  as  on  many 
plantations.  But  though  the  Church  thus  reached 
out,  it  was  unable  to  occupy  all  the  places  eager  for 
its  ministrations.  Frequently,  during  these  years, 
Bishop  Van  Buren  wrote,  “To  name  places  where 
new  missions 'should  be  started  would  be  to  name 
all  the  principal  places  on  the  Island.  At  least  fifty 
places  would  welcome  our  services  and  in  all  of 
them  land  for  buildings  is  freely  offered.  We  need 
workers  who  understand  Spanish.” 

From  the  very  beginning  of  his  episcopate,  Bishop 
Van  Buren  had  realized  that  the  opportunity  would 
be  great.  To  that  end  he  had  started  a campaign 
for  a $30,000  Equipment  Fund,  and  within  three  years 
the  completion  of  this  fund  was  in  sight.  It  was 
due  largely  to  this  fund  that  he  was  able  to  expand 
the  ministry  of  the  Church  so  as  to  include  both 
educational  and  medical  work  in  addition  to  direct 
evangelization. 

When  the  United  States  annexed  Porto  Rico, 
fully  ninety-seven  per  cent  of  the  people  were  il- 
literate, and  while  the  American  Government  at 
once  dotted  the  Island  with  public  schools,  yet,  so 
huge  was  the  task,  that  the  Church  was  offered  an 
almost  unlimited  opportunity  along  educational 
lines.  The  first  parish  school  was  begun  in  San 
Juan  in  1902  with  sixty-seven  pupils.  This  was 
soon  followed  by  similar  schools  at  Ponce,  Maya- 
guez, and  Puerta  de  Tierra.  So  great  was  the  need 
for  schools  that  in  the  second  year  of  the  San  Juan 
School  it  was  compelled  to  move  from  its  temporary 
quarters  to  larger  accommodations  in  the  basement 

[ 67  ] 


of  the  new  St.  John’s  Church  then  being  built.  The 
enrollment  had  grown  to  one  hundred,  and  many 
had  to  be  turned  away. 

During  these  years,  also,  it  became  increasingly 
apparent  that  the  Church  must  have  a hospital. 
Plans  were  accordingly  made  in  1905  for  the  erec- 
tion of  the  Memorial  Hospital  of  St.  Luke  the  Be- 
loved Physician  on  a tract  of  land  purchased  in 
Ponce  for  this  purpose.  Building  operations  were 
soon  begun,  and  in  October,  1907,  the  building  was 
completed  and  opened  under  the  direction  of  Dr. 
Carl  Vogel.  Its  capacity  of  fifty  beds  was  soon 
taxed  to  the  limit,  and  before  many  months  had 
passed,  it  became  necessary  to  plan  for  the  addition 
of  a second  story.  This  was  completed  by  Decem- 
ber, 1908,  and  its  private  rooms  enabled  the  hospital, 
through  the  income  derived  therefrom,  to  enlarge 
its  charity  work.  The  new  floor  also  contained 
adequate  nurses’  quarters. 

The  work  was  beginning  to  pass  beyond  the  foun- 
dation-laying stage.  For  a few  years  more,  Bishop 
Van  Buren  labored  on  in  the  trying  climate  of 
Porto  Rico ; but  the  handicaps  which  he  had  had 
to  face  in  establishing  the  Church  in  the  Island,  and 
the  frequent  and  arduous  visits  home  to  plead  for 
funds  from  a Church  which  seemed  unable  to  realize 
the  situation,  finally  so  broke  his  health  that  in 
April,  1912,  he  was  forced  to  present  his  resigna- 
tion to  the  House  of  Bishops. 

These  last  few  years  of  Bishop  Van  Buren’s  ac- 
tive ministry,  however,  indicated  the  vitality  of 
the  growing  Mission  and  the  success  which  was  to 
come  later.  The  Bishop  was  constantly  faced  with 
the  problem  of  a staff  inadequate  to  man  his  sta- 
tions. Porto  Rico  presented  many  difficulties 
which  deterred  men  from  volunteering  for  service. 
To  the  natural  loneliness  and  separation  from  the 
homeland  which  ordinary  service  abroad  entails, 
were  added  an  insidious  climate  inducing  a tropical 

[ 68  ] 


ST.  LUKE’S  MEMORIAL  HOSPITAL,  PONCE 


BISHOP'S  HOUSE,  SAN  JUAN,  PORTO  RICO 


PORTO  RICAN  ROAD 


neurasthenia  which  only  the  most  robust  could  with- 
stand. Furthermore,  Porto  Rico  was  at  best  a poor 
place  for  a family  life  though,  paradoxically,  noth- 
ing was  more  needed  there  than  the  example  of  the 
Christian  home.  Few  wives  from  the  United  States 
could  stand  the  climate,  and  for  children  it  offered 
few  opportunities.  The  advantages  for  education 
vvere  exceedingly  limited,  and  the  dangers  of  trans- 
planting children  from  the  temperate  climate  of  the 
United  States  to  the  semi-tropical  environment  of 
Porto  Rico,  were  great.  Moreover,  even  in  those 
days,  the  increasing  cost  of  living  made  the  exist- 
ence of  the  missionary  exceedingly  precarious  and 
unattractive.  When  to  these  obstacles  inherent  in 
the  situation,  were  added  the  difficulties  of  a strange 
language  and  an  inadequate  conception  in  the 
United  States  of  the  conditions  and  opportunities 
offered  by  the  Porto  Rican  Mission,  it  is  small  won- 
der that  Bishop  Van  Buren  was  constantly  pleading 
for  more  men  and,  as  frequently,  having  to  depend 
upon  the  lay  help  to  carry  on  his  work.  And  yeo- 
men service  did  these  lay  workers  render.  When  a 
single  Church  family  moved  from  Aguas  Buenas, 
it  was  necessary  not  only  to  suspend  the  work  at 
that  point  but  also  at  two  or  three  outlying  mis- 
sions. So  important  was  the  aid  rendered  by  lay- 
people. 

But  one  conclusion  was  possible  from  such  an 
experience : a native  ministry  was  an  urgent  im- 
mediate necessity.  The  people  were  eager  for  the 
Church’s  message.  It  was  only  necessary  to  open  a 
stat'on  and  place  in  it  the  living  voice  of  one  capable 
of  speaking  the  language  of  the  people,  and  they 
flocked  to  it.  Yet  it  was  not  until  1923  that  the 
first  fruits  of  a native  ministry  were  realized. 

Upon  the  resignation  of  Bishop  Van  Buren,  the 
Presiding  Bishop  appointed  the  Bishop  of  Cuba, 
the  Rt.  Rev.  A.  W.  Knight,  as  his  commissary.  It 
was  not  possible  for  him  to  visit  the  Island  im- 
mediately ; and  this,  together,  with  the  very  few 

[ 71  ] 


clergymen  there,  militated  against  any  great  prog- 
ress being  made. 

In  1913,  General  Convention  elected  the  Rev. 
Charles  Blayney  Colmore  as  Bishop  of  Porto  Rico, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  included  this  Missionary 
District  in  Province  II  under  the  provincial  or- 
ganization then  adopted.  Dr.  Colmore  was  conse- 
crated at  Sewanee,  Tennessee,  December  17,  1913; 
and  a month  later  sailed  for  his  field,  arriving  at 
San  Juan,  January  21,  1914.  He  found  five  priests 
in  charge  of  eleven  stations  centered  about  six  or- 
ganized missions-.  There  were  also  eleven  women 
workers  and  two  catechists.  With  this  staff,  Bishop 
Colmore  set  about  building  up  the  work  in  his  new 
charge. 

It  is  ever  the  duty  of  the  Church  to  blaze  trails 
and  to  indicate  paths  of  service.  Thus  when  the 
Government  Schools  in  Porto  Rico  reached  a cer- 
tain stage  of  usefulness,  it  behooved  the  Church  to 
abandon  its  regular  grade-school  work  and  seek 
new  avenues  of  usefulness.  By  1914,  the  Govern- 
ment grade-schools  were  so  proficient  that  the 
Church  felt  that  she  could  begin  to  leave  this  work 
to  them  and  devote  her  educational  energies  to 
kindergarten  and  primary  work  and  to  specialized 
training  especially  in  industrial  work. 

For  many  years,  the  only  rural  mission  of  the 
Church  in  Porto  Rico  had  been  carried  on  at  El 
Coto  de  Manati.  Here,  in  a pineapple  field  and 
small  cocoanut  grove,  a packing  shed  with  a 
thatched  roof  was  converted  into  a chapel  with 
seats  made  from  pineapple  crates  and  odd  boards. 
The  first  missionaries  at  El  Coto  de  Manati,  the 
Rev.  J.  E.  Droste  and  his  family,  lived  as  fruit- 
growers and  thus  came  into  intimate  contact  with 
the  peons  of  the  district  and  were  able  to  do  much 
to  alleviate  the  dull  monotony  of  their  cheerless 
lives.  The  people  flocked  to  the  packing-shed  chapel 
named  The  Resurrection,  and  before  long  it  was 

[ 72  ] 


THE  RT.  REV.  CHARLES  B.  COLMORE,  D.D. 
Second  Bishop  of  Porto  Rico,  1913 — 


CHURCH  OF  THE  RESURRECTION,  EL  COTO  DE  MANATI 


THE  NEW  WORLD  SCHOOL,  EL  COTO  DE  MANATI 


overcrowded  and  larger  quarters  had  to  be  sought. 
On  April  16,  1914,  Bishop  Colmore  laid  the  corner- 
stone for  a new  and  larger  chapel  to  be  built  of  solid 
concrete  and  to  accommodate  about  150. 

The  need  for  a school  in  this  remote  region  had 
long  been  felt,  but  it  was  not  possible  to  meet  this 
want  until  1915.  In  that  year,  the  Rev.  Arthur  R. 
Gray,  D.D.,  visited  Porto  Rico  and,  upon  his  return 
to  America,  wrote  a book  which  he  called  The  New 
World.  This  book  was  read  and  studied  throughout 
the  Church,  and  so  great  was  its  influence  that  sev- 
eral study-groups  provided  the  initial  $1,000  needed 
for  a school  at  El  Coto  de  Manati  which  was  named 
after  the  book  which  had  made  it  a reality — The  New 
World  School.  Begun  originally  in  1916  as  a board- 
ing school  for  poor  orphans,  it  was  changed,  in 
1921,  to  a day  school  for  the  boys  and  girls  who 
attended  the  Resurrection  Chapel  Sunday  School. 
A neighboring  public  school  provided  instruction 
in  the  first  three  grades,  so  that  the  New  World 
School  devoted  itself  to  providing  fourth,  fifth,  and 
sixth  grade  instruction  and,  in  addition,  agricul- 
tural work  for  boys  and  instruction  in  homemaking 
for  girls.  Girls  above  the  sixth  grade  are  sent  fre- 
quently to  St.  Elizabeth’s  Home,  Ponce,  for  further 
training.  This  school  was  accredited  by  the  Gov- 
ernment and,  in  1924,  it  had  eighty  pupils,  the  num- 
ber limited  only  by  the  size  of  the  building. 

At  Mayaguez,  St.  Andrews’  Mission,  begun  in 
1907  in  a rambling  two-storey  wooden  building  for- 
merly used  as  a coffee  warehouse,  took  on  a new 
lease  of  life  a decade  later  with  the  coming  of  the 
Rev.  F.  A.  Saylor.  The  old  building,  the  lower 
floor  of  which  was  used  for  church  and  school  and 
the  upper  floor  for  living  quarters,  was  now  leaning 
dangerously  towards  the  street  and  was  most  un- 
safe. Mr.  Saylor  at  once  directed  his  energies  to 
the  problem  of  a new  building,  and  plans  were 
made  to  erect  a building  to  cost  about  $20,000.  Re- 
enforced concrete  was  determined  upon  as  the  ma- 

[ 75  ] 


terial,  since  wood  is  subject  to  rapid  deterioration 
through  the  activity  of  the  wood-eating  polilla  and 
the  danger  of  earthquakes.  When  the  earthquake 
of  1918  occurred,  it  was  one  of  the  few  buildings 
which  entirely  withstood  the  shock.  And  not  only 
was  the  building  sound,  but,  when  completed,  the 
cost,  instead  of  being  $20,000,  was  only  $2,685.30. 
This  astonishing  result  was  secured  through  Mr. 
Saylor’s  acting  as  his  own  contractor.  Inspired  by 
the  example  of  their  leader,  Mr.  Saylor’s  congre- 
gation soon  rallied  to  his  aid,  and  men  and  women 
gave  of  their  time  and  energy  to  the  building  of  the 
new  church  and  school.  Thus  what  has  been  char- 
acterized as  the  most  beautiful  building  in  Maya- 
guez  was  reared  at  an  astonishingly  low  cost 
through  the  hearty  devotion  of  the  congregation. 

The  School  which  moved  into  part  of  this  new 
structure  was  a day  school  of  eight  grades  with  an 
industrial  department.  Like  The  New  World  School 
it  was  an  accredited  school  and,  for  several  years 
past,  all  its  graduates  have  been  admitted  to  high 
school  without  further  examination.  The  industrial 
department  trained  boys  in  manual  training,  but 
even  in  the  new  building  the  work  was  handicapped 
by  inadequate  space.  The  girls  did  embroidery  and 
drawn  work  and,  as  they  all  came  from  very  poor 
families,  the  return  on  their  work  was  of  very  real 
assistance  to  them.  To  provide  for  mothers  who 
wished  to  work  in  the  industrial  department,  a day 
nursery  was  opened.  Space  for  this,  as  well  as  for 
the  school’s  needlework,  was  found  in  a rambling 
building  adjoining  St.  Andrew’s  property.  In  1924, 
this  School  had  an  enrollment  of  122. 

Mention  has  been  made  of  St.  John’s  parochial 
school,  San  Juan.  The  development  of  the  Govern- 
ment educational  system  made  some  of  this  work 
unnecessary,  and  it  was  consequently  abandoned, 
though  the  Church  kindergarten  was  continued. 
In  September,  1915,  St.  John’s  Parish  established 
a private  primary  school  which,  in  the  first  year  of 

[ 76  ] 


ST.  ANDREW’S  CHURCH  AND  SCHOOL,  MAYAGUEZ,  PORTO  RICO 


CHURCH  OF  THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MISSION  HOUSE,  QUEBRADA  LIMON,  PORTO  RICO 


its  existence,  had  57  pupils  and  was  entirely  self- 
supporting  except  for  the  principal’s  salary.  This 
school,  as  well  as  the  kindergarten,  was  accredited 
by  the  Government  Department  of  Education  and, 
in  1924,  reported  an  enrollment  of  80. 

With  the  passage  of  years,  it  became  increasingly 
apparent  that  some  scheme  must  be  devised  to  pro- 
vide adequate  training  for  native  women  workers. 
The  plan  finally  adopted  provided  for  the  aban- 
donment of  work  at  certain  points  in  order  to  release 
the  funds  necessary  for  this  purpose,  and  to  transfer 
the  training  centre  from  Ponce  where  a Summer 
Training  School  had  been  started,  to  San  Juan,  in 
order  that  the  women  might  have  the  advantages  of 
courses  offered  by  the  University  of  Porto  Rico. 
Accordingly,  in  September,  1924,  there  was 
established  in  San  Juan  under  the  direction  of  Miss 
Ethel  M.  Robinson,  St.  Catherine’s  Training  School 
for  Women.  Designed  to  train  women  for  definite 
Church  work  such  as  teaching  and  parish  visiting,  this 
school  had,  in  the  first  year  of  its  existence 
22  pupils. 

In  the  rural  centre  of  Quebrada  Limon,  the 
Church  maintained  a parochial  school.  The  im- 
portance of  the  work  carried  on  there  and  at  El 
Coto  de  Manati,  the  two  distinctly  rural  centres  of 
the  Church’s  work,  cannot  be  overestimated ; for 
from  their  endeavors  must  come  the  leaders  of  rural 
Porto  Rico,  just  as,  from  the  city  schools,  must 
come  the  leaders  in  urban  life.  Thus,  under  Bishop 
Colmore,  the  Church’s  educational  work  in  Porto 
Rico  began  to  assume  definite  outlines  and  to  point 
toward  the  end  desired  by  the  Church’s  educational 
activities  everywhere— the  creation  of  a native 
Christian  leadership  capable  of  guiding  the  destinies 
of  their  native  land.  • 

The  Church’s  medical  work  centres  in  St.  Luke’s 
Hospital,  Ponce.  When  Bishop  Van  Buren  resigned, 
the  hospital  fell  on  evil  times,  but  in  1913,  it  was 

[ 79  ] 


reorganized  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  L.  W.  Cross- 
man who  remained  in  charge  until  March,  1916,  and 
brought  the  institution  to  a high  degree  of  efficiency. 

Dr.  Crossman’s  departure  left  the  Hospital  with- 
out a physician  in  charge,  but  this  lack  was  in  great 
measure  supplied  through  the  fine  service  of  the 
superintendent,  Miss  Ellen  T.  Hicks.  In  1920,  St. 
Luke’s  Hospital  had  the  reputation  of  being,  scien- 
tifically, among  the  best  on  the  Island,  and,  for  the 
first  time  in  its  history,  was  practically  free  from 
financial  difficulties.  A recent  visitor  described  it 
as,  “a  series  of  attractive,  green-and-white-painted 
buildings  with  large  balconies  and  spotlessly  clean, 
airy  rooms;  built  on  a hill,  with  the  City  of  Ponce 
below  and  the  blue  Caribbean  beyond.” 

Adjoining  the  hospital  grounds  was  a very  poor 
section  of  the  city.  One  of  the  visions  of  Miss 
Hicks’  keen  mind  was  a dispensary  to  be  established 
at  the  entrance  of  the  hospital  grounds  for  these 
people.  This  would  also  give  the  nurses  training 
in  Public  Health  Work  and  a means  of  employment 
after  graduation. 

The  development  of  the  Hospital  did  not  occupy 
all  of  Miss  Hicks’  energies,  and  it  was  due  largely 
to  her  efforts  that  St.  Luke’s  Training  School  for 
Nurses  was  developed.  The  first  class  of  six  nurses 
was  graduated  from  the  School  in  1922.  The  three- 
year  course  not  only  trained  first-class  nurses  but  it 
was  also  a most  effective  agency  of  the  Church’s 
work.  Upon  one  occasion  Miss  Hicks  wrote: 
“During  the  course,  there  takes  place  in  the  native 
girls  a veritable  transformation  in  their  entire  bear- 
ing and  appearance.  Their  outlook  upon  life  is 
altogether  changed.”  But,  for  the  best  results,  some 
elementary  preparation  is  obviously  desirable,  and 
this  remains  one  of  the  Hospital’s  greatest  prob- 
lems-— to  secure  girls  with  sufficient  education  and 
background  to  train  as  nurses. 

[ 80  ] 


THE  RT.  REV.  MANUEL  FERRANDO 

Suffrayan  Bishop  of  Porto  Rico,  1923 — 


CHURCH  OF  THE  ATONEMENT,  QUEBRADA  LIMON 


BREAKING  GROUND,  HOLY  TRINITY  CHURCH,  PONCE 


WARD,  ST.  LUKE’S  HOSPITAL,  PONCE 


Important  as  are  both  the  educational  and  med- 
ical work  of  the  Church,  they  would  be  of  little  per- 
manent value  if  the  ultimate  aim  of  the  work  were 
lost  sight  of,  i.e.,  the  creation  of  a national  Church 
manned  by  a native  ministry.  One  of  the  conditions 
which  most  impressed  Bishop  Colmore  at  the  be- 
ginning of  his  episcopate  was  the  great  dearth  of 
native  helpers  especially  in  evangelistic  work. 
Within  a few  years,  he  had  secured  one  or  two 
postulants  for  Holy  Orders;  but,  although  several 
more  sought  admission,  he  was  unable  to  accept 
them  as  there  was  no  means  at  hand  by  which  he 
could  train  them.  By  1919,  four  young  Porto 
Ricans  were  preparing  for  the  ministry,  and  four 
years  later  on  December  30,  1923,  the  first  fruits 
of  this  important  movement  were  realized  in  the 
ordination  to  the  diaconate,  of  Antonio  and  Aris- 
tides Villafane.  These  two  brothers  had  been  at- 
tracted, as  boys,  to  St.  Luke’s  Church,  and  their 
regular  attendance  there  and  earnest  work  had  early 
brought  them  to  the  notice  of  Bishop  Colmore.  In 
1918,  they  made  known  their  desire  to  study  for 
Holy  Orders.  Henceforth  they  devoted  themselves 
to  preparation  under  the  direct  supervision  of 
Bishop  Colmore,  while  still  carrying  on  their  busi- 
ness as  cigar  makers,  and  in  1925  they  were  or- 
dained to  the  priesthood.  Antonio  returned  to 
Mayaguez  to  assist  Fr.  Saylor  under  whom  he  had 
served  his  diaconate,  and  Aristides  became  an  as- 
sistant at  St.  Luke’s  Church,  Puerta  de  Tierra.  A 
third  native  candidate,  Esteban  Reus,  went  to  the 
DuBose  Memorial  Church  Training  School  at 
Monteagle,  Tennessee,  to  complete  his  training, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  diaconate  on  January 
6,  1926,  by  Bishop  Colmore  in  the  Cathedral  of 
St.  John  the  Divine,  New  York. 

An  event  of  great  interest  and  importance  was 
the  transfer  to  the  Church,  in  1923,  of  an 
independent  mission  at  Quebrada  Limon  directed 
by  the  Rev.  Manuel  Ferrando.  At  a special  meeting 

[ 83  ] 


of  the  House  of  Bishops  in  November,  1923,  Mr. 
Ferrando  was  elected  Suffragan  Bishop  of  Porto 
Rico.  His  consecration  followed  on  March  15, 
1924,  in  the  Cathedral  of  St.  John  the  Divine,  New 
York.  Bishop  Ferrando  who  was  a native  of  Spain, 
born,  reared,  and  ordained  to  the  priesthood  in  the 
Roman  Church,  had  come  to  the  United  States  in 
the  ‘90’s,  and  was  soon  afterwards  naturalized.  He 
sought  a field  of  work  requiring  personal  sacrifice 
and,  having  come  under  the  influence  of  the  pastor 
of  the  Fifth  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  New 
York,  he  soon  undertook  work  among  the  neglected 
people  of  Caracas,  Venezuela.  He  remained  there 
for  several  years ; but,  with  the  transfer  of  Porto 
Rico  to  the  United  States  he  felt  drawn  to  service 
on  that  island.  He  was  the  first  missionary  to 
seize  the  new  opportunity;  and  then  began  a 
quarter-century  of  most  fruitful  effort  on  behalf  of 
the  primitive  mountain  folk  of  Quebrada  Limon. 
At  the  close  of  this  period  he  became  associated 
with  the  Mission  of  our  Church  under  Bishop 
Colmore,  and  eventually,  as  we  have  seen,  was  ap- 
pointed Bishop  Suffragan.  Thus  there  came  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  our  Mission  the  whole  enter- 
prise at  Quebrada  Limon,  including  2500  baptized 
people,  with  fourteen  stations,  and  a school  for 
the  training  of  rural  leaders.  Later,  five  of  Bishop 
Ferrando’s  assistants  were  presented  for  ordination. 
Thus  the  Porto  Rican  Mission  which,  in  1922,  was 
without  a native  clergy,  had,  four  years  later, 
seven  native  priests  and  one  deacon — a situation, 
surely,  to  give  the  Church  at  home  and  in  Porto 
Rico  great  cause  for  rejoicing. 

The  development  of  schools,  hospital,  and  a 
native  leadership  must  not  obscure  from  view  the 
more  fundamental  task  of  reaching  individuals  with 
the  radiant  message  of  Christ  and  gathering  them 
into  congregations.  San  Juan,  the  capital,  with 
75,000  inhabitants  and  an  existence  dating  back  to 
the  days  of  Columbus,  was  an  important  centre.  In 

[ 84  ] 


NATIVE  CLERGY  AT  QUEBRADA  LIMON 


ST.  JOHN’S  CHURCH,  SAN  JUAN 


old  San  Juan  proper,  was  St.  John’s  Church;  in  the 
Puerta  de  Tierra  section,  St.  Luke’s;  and  in 
Santurce,  St.  Paul’s  and  the  Mission  of  the  Annun- 
ciation. Puerta  de  Tierra,  or  “Gate  of  the  Land”, 
resembled  the  most  densely  populated  tenement 
districts  of  New  York  or  Boston,  though  the 
gradual  entry  of  commerce  was  slowly  transforming 
the  district.  There,  near  the  bridge  which  con- 
nected San  Juan  island  with  the  mainland  of  Porto 
Rico  in  the  district  which  was  formerly  without  the 
city  walls  but  which  became,  in  time,  a huge  barrio 
within  the  city  limits,  dwelt  the  very  poor,  living 
under  the  worst  conceivable  conditions — congested, 
uncomfortable,  unsanitary.  To  such  a people  the 
Church  was  ever  called  to  minister,  and  St.  Luke’s 
Mission  with  its  two  congregations,  one  Spanish 
and  the  other  English-speaking,  and  its  little  day 
school  in  two  basement  rooms,  sought  to  bring 
cheer  into  many  dreary  lives  and  to  teach  the  people 
how  to  live.  In  Ponce,  La  Santisima  Trinidad — 
the  Church  of  the  Most  Holy  Trinity — had  upheld 
the  light  of  Christianity  since  1873  when  the  building 
had  been  shipped  in  parts  from  England  to  be 
assembled  as  the  first  non-Roman  church  building, 
in  Porto  Rico.  After  half  a century  of  service,  a 
new  building  was  sorely  needed  and,  on  January  8, 
1925,  Bishop  Colmore  turned  the  first  spade  of 
earth  for  the  new  church.  On  that  occasion  there 
pealed  forth  “the  liberty  bell”— the  bell  put  in 
place  when  the  original  church  was  built  but  silent 
until  1898  when  it  proclaimed  in  loud  tones  the 
glad  news  of  the  American  occupation.  The  bell 
ringer  in  1898  was  a young  communicant  of 
St.  John’s;  old  and  bent  in  1925,  he  rang  the  bell  to 
proclaim  the  dawn  of  a new  era  for  the  Church  in 
Ponce.  This  church  ministers  to  both  Spanish — 
and  English-speaking  congregations  and,  in  addi- 
tion, maintains  a community  centre  with  daily 
kindergarten,  and  reading  and  game  rooms. 

[ 87  ] 


Mention  has  already  been  made  of  the  work  at 
Mayaguez,  El  Coto  de  Manati,  and  Quebrada 
Union.  Other  work  includes  the  Mission  of  the 
Good  Shepherd  for  the  Leper  Colony;  the  Mission 
of  the  Advent  at  Aguas  Buenas ; St.  Mark’s  Mission 
at  Ensenada;  St.  Paul’s  Mission  at  El  Pastillo; 
smaller  work  at  Magueyes  and  Quebrada  Ceiba; 
and  All  Saints’  Mission,  Vieques.  This  last 
Mission  situated  on  a small  island  of  rolling  hills 
off  the  southeastern  coast  of  Porto  Rico  is  of 
interest  as  being  the  second  oldest  non-Roman 
mission  in  Porto  Rico.  Begun  about  1880,  it  passed 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  American  Church 
after  the  American  occupation  and,  since  1906,  has 
been  in  charge  of  a lone  woman  missionary  assisted 
by  monthly  visits  from  a priest  from  the  mainland. 
The  Island  which,  tw'enty  years  ago,  was  a most 
lonely  place  is  now  in  daily  communication  with 
the  outside  world  and  has  electric  lights,  radio, 
and  other  modern  conveniences.  Its  people,  num- 
bering about  12,000,  are  still  very  poor,  being 
mainly  colored  folk  from  the  British  West  Indies — 
laborers  in  the  cane-fields. 

In  1925,  the  Church  in  Porto  Rico  numbered  its 
communicants  at  about  2000,  and  was  in  contact 
with  at  least  3000  more  baptized  persons.  These 
were  reached  through  12  stations  manned  by  20 
workers,  13  of  whom  were  native  Porto  Ricans. 
It  was  estimated  that  30  per  cent  of  the  entire  non- 
Roman  Christian  population  were  adherents  of  our 
Church. 

Such  was  the  development  and  progress  in  Porto 
Rico  during  the  first  quarter  of  the  twentieth 
century.  Even  greater  things  may  be  expected  in 
the  second  quarter  if  the  Church  at  home  lives  up 
to  its  privileges  and  responsibilities. 


[ 83  ] 


HOLY  TRINITY  CHURCH,  PONCE,  PORTO  RICO 


CHURCH,  ST.  CROIX,  VIRGIN  ISLANDS 


The  Virgin  Islands 

The  third  geographical  division  of  the  Missionary  Dis- 
trict of  Porto  Rico  lies  due  east  of  the  Island  of  that 
name  and  comprises  three  small  coral  formations,  St. 
Thomas,  St.  John,  and  St.  Croix,  known  as  the  Virgin 
Islands.  They  were  discovered  by  Columbus  on  his 
second  voyage ; but  not  being  as  valuable  as  some  of  the 
other  landfalls  that  were  made,  it  was  not  until  1733 
that  they  were  occupied  in  sufficient  force  to  assure 
permanent  settlement.  At  that  time,  after  having  been 
tossed  about  between  the  Spanish,  English,  Dutch,  and 
French  adventurers  for  250  years,  they  were  finally  oc- 
cupied by  the  Danish  West  India  Company,  a corpora- 
tion which,  though  purely  commercial,  was  controlled  by 
the  King  of  Denmark  as  the  largest  stock-holder.  Dur- 
ing the  184  years  of  Danish  occupation  they  thrived 
fairly  well.  Their  ports,  being  free  to  all  nations,  were 
patronized  by  ships  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  More- 
over, the  Larger  Antilles  not  having  been  yet  brought 
to  such  order  as  made  planting  profitable,  much  sugar 
was  grown  to  advantage  on  these  smaller  islands.  This 
last  is  an  important  point  because  those  who  criticise  the 
American  Government  for  allowing  the  Virgin  Islands 
to  be  reduced  to  such  a low  economic  state  as  is  their 
lot  today,  do  not  realize  that  this  situation  would  have 
come  to  pass  no  matter  who  was  in  control  of  them. 
Once  the  larger  islands  to  the  westward  had  been  paci- 
fied and  opened  up  to  trade,  and  once  plantation  life  on 
them  had  been  made  possible,  the  Virgin  Islands  and 
all  the  islands  which  form  a chain  from  Porto  Rico 
southward  to  Trinidad  were  commercially  doomed. 

When  the  United  States  bought  St.  Thomas,  St. 
John,  and  St.  Croix  from  Denmark,  and  the  American 
flag  had  been  run  up  on  April  2,  1917,  there  came  auto- 
matically under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  American 

[ 91  ] 


Church,  three  large  self-supporting  parishes — All 
Saints’,  at  St.  Thomas  (St.  Thomas  Id.),  with  1,458 
communicants;  and  St.  Paul’s,  at  Frederiksted,  with 
558;  and  St.  John’s,  at  Christiansted,  with  555,  both  on 
St.  Croix  Island.  These  parishes  had  been  established 
by  the  Church  of  England  several  generations  before  as 
part  of  that  Church’s  missionary  work  in  the  West  In- 
dies. They  had  always  been  the  dominant  religious  fac- 
tor in  the  life  of  the  people.  With  the  generous  help  of 
the  English,  beautiful  churches  had  been  built.  In  none 
of  our  own  possessions  were  any  parishes  quite  so  com- 
pletely equipped  as  they  were. 

On  the  first  day  of  May,  1918,  at  the  request  of  our 
Presiding  Bishop,  the  English  West  Indian  Bishop  of 
Antigua,  in  whose  Diocese  the  Islands  had  been,  trans- 
ferred jurisdiction  to  the  Bishop  of  Porto  Rico.  The 
General  Convention  of  1919  made  them  a part  of  the 
Diocese  of  Porto  Rico  and,  hence,  of  Province  II. 

The  three  parishes  above  mentioned,  together  with 
one  mission,  were  cared  for  by  three  priests,  and  had 
over  2000  communicants  and  1700  Sunday  School  pu- 
pils. There  was  also  one  parish  school.  In  1924,  there 
were  122  baptisms  and  60  confirmations.  These  figures 
show  a very  marked  decrease  from  those  obtaining  be- 
fore the  transfer  of  jurisdiction,  but  this  may  be  ex- 
plained, in  part,  by  migration  due  to  changing  economic 
conditions. 

In  his  report  for  1924,  Bishop  Colmore  wrote : “The 
economic  conditions  in  the  Virgin  Islands  are  still  far 
from  satisfactory.  There  will  be  a good  crop  this 
year,  but  the  best  elements  of  the  population  are  con- 
stantly emigrating  to  the  United  States.  There  is  no 
occupation  for  our  young  men  and  women  and  little 
promise  of  the  introduction  of  any  industries  which 
could  afford  them  work.  The  parishes  will  not  die,  as 
there  will  always  be  an  irreducible  minimum  of  popu- 
lation, but  the  probability  is  that  in  time  to  come  the 
congregations  will  not  be  able  to  continue  their  self- 
support  and  will  require  more  and  more  assistance. 

[ 92  ] 


“At  present,  however,  there  are  still  large  numbers 
of  people  to  be  cared  for,  many  more  than  can  be  reached 
by  our  present  staff  of  workers.  My  plea,  therefore, 
is  always  for  more  workers  for  these  parishes,  both 
clergy  and  women  workers.  Let  us  remember  that  the 
Church  people  who  leave  the  Virgin  Islands  go  to  the 
United  States  and,  if  properly  trained  and  cared  for 
at  home,  will  become  faithful  and  true  members  of 
the  parishes  to  which  they  go  in  their  new  abode.  Our 
work  here  is  largely  tributary  to  the  Church  in  the 
United  States.  In  their  present  home  they  are  attached 
to  the  Church  and  can  be  easily  moulded  to  her  ways 
if  we  have  sufficient  personnel.  Would  it  not  be  better 
and  cheaper  to  intensify  the  work  here  before  they 
leave,  thus  securing  them  to  the  Church  before  they 
reach  the  United  Statae  and  are  attracted  by  every  ‘wind 
of  doctrine’?” 


ST.  PAUL’S  SCHOOL,  FREDERIKSTED,  V.  I. 


[ 93  ] 


KEY  WEST 


1925 


Cuba 


Cuba,  “The  Pearl  of  the  Antilles,”  was,  for  nearly 
four-hundred  years,  an  isolated  colony  of  Spain.  Its 
material  development  had  been  dwarfed  by  the  Span- 
iard’s policy  of  forbidding  colonists  to  produce  com- 
modities which  could  be  raised  in  the  mother  country. 
In  Cuba  this  meant  that  a land  endowed  with  great  veg- 
etable and  mineral  wealth  could  not  be  used  to  the  best 
advantage,  or,  to  be  specific,  could  be  used  only  for  the 
production  of  sugar  and  tobacco.  The  result  of  this 
economic  policy  was  increasingly  disastrous,  compelling 
Cuba  to  import  most  of  its  foodstuffs  and  essential 
commodities,  and  making  it,  even  today,  one  of  the 
most  expensive  countries  in  which  to  live. 

The  Island  of  Cuba,  our  nearest  island  neighbor,  is 
730  miles  long  with  an  average  width  of  60  miles,  and 
has  an  area  of  4,700  square  miles.  Within  this  ter- 
ritory live  only  about  three  million  people,  giving  the 
Island  the  very  low  average  density  of  73  people  to 
the  square  mile.  Except  when  labor  troubles  intervene, 
all  parts  of  Cuba  are  accessible  by  railroad.  The  larg- 
est cities  are  Havana,  the  capital  and  principal  port 
with  a population  of  432,000 ; Camaguey,  with  98,000 ; 
Cienfuegos,  with  95,000 ; Santiago,  with  70,000 ; Guan- 
tanamo, with  68,000 ; and  Matanzas,  with  62,000. 

While  the  cities  are,  comparatively  speaking,  progres- 
sive, and  the  people  who  dwell  in  them  well  taken  care 
of,  the  country  districts  are  in  a very  backward  state. 
It  would  be  hard  for  an  American  to  realize  how  void  of 
all  the  conveniences  of  life  are  these  districts  wherein 
live  more  than  half  of  the  Island’s  population.  This 
applies  in  matters  religious  quite  as  well  as  in  things 
secular. 


[ 95  ] 


Since,  as  has  been  indicated,  Cuba  is  a land  of  great 
mineral  and  vegetable  wealth,  it  will  not  be  long  before 
this  now  under-populated  country  is  filled  to  over- 
flowing. Already  people  have  begun  to  pour  in.  It 
is,  therefore,  urgent  that  the  Church  increase  her 
efforts.  The  newcomers  are,  in  some  instances,  from 
the  United  States — men  who  are  going  down  there  to 
work  on  or  manage  the  sugar  plantations,  or  to  raise 
citrus  fruits,  or  to  work  the  great  manganese  and  iron 
mines  in  the  northeastern  corner.  Then  there  are 
Jamaican  Negroes  coming  in  great  numbers  to  work 
at  the  cutting  of  the  sugar  cane.  During  recent  years, 
they  have  been  coming  in  by  hundreds,  and  even 
thousands.  Lastly,  there  are  people  from  Europe  who, 
having  heard  of  the  wealth  of  this  new  land,  are  hasten- 
ing to  take  advantage  of  its  riches. 

If  one  would  have  an  idea  of  the  conditions  under 
which  our  work  in  Cuba  began,  he  must  picture  to 
himself  a people  so  little  concerned  about  religious 
liberty  that  they  did  not  know  whether  they  were  free 
or  not, — did  not  know,  and  never  made  any  effort  to 
find  out.  This  did  not  apply  to  every  one,  of  course, 
but  it  was  true  of  the  rank  and  file.  It  was  a land  of 
contented  discontent,  of  ignorant  ignorance,  of  small 
local  revolts  but  of  no  large  national  movements,  of 
medieval  sterility.  It  was  a part  of  the  New  World 
that  needed  help  from  the  other  parts  which  had  surged 
forward  on  the  tide  of  progress. 

In  1871,  Bishop  Whipple  of  Minnesota,  desirous  of 
visiting  Haiti,  missed  his  boat,  and  in  order  not  to  lose 
time  waiting  for  the  next  one,  took  a boat  then  about  to 
sail  for  Havana  and  planned  to  proceed  to  Haiti  after 
visiting  Cuba. 

On  the  voyage  south,  the  captain  of  the  ship  said  to 
him  one  day,  “Here  am  I making  regular  trips  to 
Havana,  but  if  I should  die  in  Havana,  I could  not  have 
a Christian  burial.”  This  casual  remark  increased  the 
Bishop’s  already  keen  interest  in  the  religious  condition 
of  Cuba;  and  when,  upon  arrival,  he  learned  that  there 
was  no  ship  sailing  to  Haiti,  he  visited  the  American 

[ 96  ] 


Consul  in  Havana  to  learn  if  it  would  be  possible  to 
hold  a Church  service  in  the  city.  In  view  of  the  strained 
relations  between  the  United  States  and  Spain  at  that 
time,  the  Consul  did  not  think  it  advisable  that  a public 
service  be  conducted,  but  suggested  that  the  Bishop 
might  seek  the  consent  of  the  Captain-General  of  Cuba. 
To  this  Bishop  Whipple  replied,  “Certainly  not.  I have 
been  in  Spain  and  I know  that  the  Spanish  constitution 
gives  permission  for  foreigners  domiciled  in  Spain  or 
its  colonies  to  worship  God  according  to  their  ac- 
customed forms  of  faith.  I shall  act  under  this  author- 
ity, and  if  anyone  dares  to  meddle  with  me,  I think  that 
my  country  will  protect  me.”  Meantime,  at  the  request 
of  the  British  Consul-General,  Bishop  Whipple  held  a 
private  service  for  him  at  his  hotel,  and  service  was 
also  held  aboard  the  United  States  man-of-war  Szvatara. 

Bishop  Whipple,  however,  was  keenly  anxious  to 
conduct  a public  service,  and  the  opportunity  soon  came. 
The  German  Consul-General  asked  him  to  perform  a 
marriage  ceremony  at  the  Consulate,  and,  soon  after, 
a public  service  was  held  there.  This  was  the  first  non- 
Roman  service  held  in  Havana.  Bishop  Whipple’s 
visit  was  a great  blessing  to  many  residents  of  the 
Cuban  capital ; he  was  able  to  administer  the  Blessed 
Sacrament  to  some  who  had  been  deprived  of  it  for 
more  than  a decade. 

More  than  a quarter  of  a century  later,  The  Times  of 
Cuba  wrote  as  follows  concerning  the  events  of  this 
early  period  under  the  caption,  The  First  Protestant 
Church: 

“The  American  Episcopal  Church  is  making  diligent 
efforts  to  reach  the  American  colony  in  this  city 
(Havana).  This  was  the  first  Protestant  Church  to 
begin  evangelistic  work  in  the  Island  of  Cuba.  As 
many  as  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  ago,  before  the 
edict  of  toleration  was  published,  the  Rev.  Edward 
Kenney  held  ‘private’  services  in  the  parlours  of  the 
Pasaje  Hotel.  A little  congregation  was  gathered  by 

personal  invitation  Mr.  Kenney  labored  here 

for  perhaps  fifteen  years  under  the  auspices  of  no  mis- 

[ 97  ] 


sionary  society  but  obtaining  contributions  for  the  sup^* 
port  of  his  work  in  response  to  circulars  sent  from  time 
to  time  to  Episcopal  clergymen  in  the  United  States.” 

The  Mr.  Kenney,  mentioned  in  this  quotation,  was  the 
first  resident  chaplain  in  Havana.  His  appointment 
was  an  outgrowth  of  the  interest  created  by  the  visit  of 
Bishop  Whipple  who,  throughout  his  brief  stay  in 
Havana,  had  ministered  as  best  he  might  to  all  who 
came  to  him  in  trouble — black  or  white,  Spanish  or 
English-speaking. 

After  the  outbreak  of  civil  war  in  the  Island,  in  1875, 
a large  number  of  Cubans  were  driven  into  exile ; and 
many  of  them  came  to  America  where  they  found  them- 
selves in  contact  with  American  Christianity  which  they 
soon  learned  to  value.  Centres  of  worship  were  pro- 
vided for  these  refugees  in  Key  West,  Philadelphia, 
and  New  York. 

A few  years  later,  in  1882,  the  Female  Bible  Society 
of  Philadelphia  began  to  circulate  Bibles  in  Cuba. 
This  activity  aroused  the  ire  of  priests  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  who  ordered  the  Bibles  burned. 
Nevertheless,  the  colporteurs  of  the  society  persevered 
and  presently  there  were  candidates  for  the  ministry 
of  the  Church.  One  of  these,  Senor  Pedro  Duarte, 
not  wholly  satisfied  with  distributing  Bibles,  was  sent 
to  Matanzas  where  he  organized  our  first  congre- 
gation— “Fieles  a Jesus” — and  held  the  first  Church 
service  on  August  5,  1883.  Other  centres  of  work 
were  similarly  begun.  They  flourished  so  well  that  in 
1885,  when  Bishop  Young,  of  Florida,  visited  the  Is- 
land, 325  candidates  were  presented  for  confirmation. 

For  a long  time  the  new  workers  were  challenged 
and  persecuted  in  their  work,  as  it  was  taken  for 
granted  to  be  against  the  law  to  worship  God  except 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Spanish  Church.  It  remained 
for  Senor  Duarte,  however,  who  knew  the  law  better 
than  did  his  opponents,  to  meet  the  issue  with  the  local 
authorities  by  appealing  to  the  Spanish  Government. 
Then  came  a royal  decree  which  affirmed  the  religious 
freedom  law  as  passed  in  Madrid  in  1876. 

[ 98  ] 


Shortly  afterwards,  Senor  Duarte  went  to  Phila- 
delphia where  he  studied  for  Ploly  Orders  under  the 
direction  of  the  Rev.  Edward  W.  Syle.  While  he  was 
absent  from  Cuba,  Bishop  Young  of  Florida  visited  the 
Island  twice,  and,  upon  his  return,  sought  aid  from  the 
Board  of  Missions  for  the  struggling  work  in  Cuba. 
The  financial  condition  of  the  Board  prevented  its 
undertaking  this  responsibility,  and  when  Senor  Duarte 
was  ordained  to  the  diaconate  in  1885  and  was  ready 
to  return  to  Cuba,  he  was  dependent  for  his  support 
upon  the  newly  organized  “Ladies’  Cuban  Guild,”  of 
Philadelphia.  For  over  three  years  the  women  of  the 
Guild  supported  Senor  Duarte  until  the  American 
Church  Missionary  Society,  upon  recommendation  of 
the  Board  of  Missions,  assumed  responsibility  for  the 
Cuban  Mission.  This  happy  situation  was  brought 
about  largely  through  the  efforts  of  Bishop  Whitaker 
of  Pennsylvania  to  whom,  in  1887,  had  been  assigned 
the  episcopal  oversight  of  the  Island.  The  work  pros- 
pered ; an  unpretentious  building  was  erected  in  Matan- 
zas,  and  a second  congregation  was  organized  under  the 
name  of  St.  Peter  the  Apostle,  while  in  the  Jesus  del 
Monte  suburb  of  Havana  a building  was  purchased. 
An  American  missionary,  the  Rev.  A.  H.  Mellen,  was 
appointed,  and  an  active  campaign  was  planned. 

The  outbreak  of  the  next  revolution,  however,  pre- 
vented this  movement  from  maturing.  The  attitude  of 
the  civil  authorities  compelled  Mr.  Mellen  and  his  as- 
sistants to  withdraw,  and  for  a time  their  efforts  seemed 
frustrated.  The  issue  of  war  was  finally  decided  in 
favor  of  the  revolutionists,  and  Cuba  was  'set  free  to 
work  out  her  own  destiny.  Our  missionaries  returned, 
and  aggressive  work  was  planned.  Bishop  Whitaker 
revisited  Cuba  early  in  1900  and  found  seventeen  days 
ample  time  in  which  to  visit  our  work,  so  small  was  it 
at  that  time.  In  Havana,  progress  was  sorely  hindered 
by  the  unsuitable  places  in  which  services  were  held. 
For  many  months  during  1899,  the  only  place  available 
for  service  was  a small  room  over  a cheap  restaurant. 
There,  not  infrequently,  noise  and  profanity  forced 

[ 99  ] 


their  way  from  the  restaurant  below  into  the  little 
chapel.  This  was  particularly  obnoxious  to  the  Cubans 
whom  the  chapel  aimed  to  reach.  In  1900,  the  congrega- 
tion moved  to  a building  of  the  American  Subsistence 
Department,  but  the  uncertainty  of  the  Church’s  tenure 
there  also  proved  a great  obstacle  to  the  work.  In  the 
Jesus  del  Monte  section,  a candidate  for  Holy  Orders 
conducted  a large  Sunday  School. 

The  pioneer  worker,  Mr.  Duarte,  was  still  at 
Matanzas  where,  in  addition  to  his  regular  services, 
he  conducted  a large  day  school  for  about  160  boys  and 
girls,  and  a girls’  orphanage,  housed  in  a converted 
sugar  house.  Orphans  had  always  interested  Mr.  Duarte. 
About  this  time  he  wrote : “Orphans  are  counted  here 
by  the  thousands,  and  I see  that  this  gives  us  a very 
good  opportunity  for  the  establishment  of  a Church 
asylum  wherein  to  shelter  children  of  all  ages.” 

The  other  native  clergyman,  the  Rev.  M.  F.  Moreno, 
was  stationed  at  Bolondron  where,  like  Mr.  Duarte, 
besides  holding  services  in  a chapel  occupying  the  larger 
part  of  his  own  house,  he  maintained  an  orphanage. 
Notwithstanding  such  poverty  of  resources — or  pos- 
sibly by  reason  of  it — no  fewer  than  115  persons  were 
presented  for  confirmation  on  the  occasion  of  Bishop 
Whitaker’s  visit  in  1900.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that 
at  this  time  the  Church’s  work  was  confined  to  four 
centres,  in  only  one  of  which  did  it  own  property ; and 
that  a staff  of  three  priests  (two  American,  one  Cuban,) 
one  Cuban  deacon,  and  two  Cuban  lay  readers,  min- 
istered to  six  congregations. 

Bishop  Whitaker’s  visit  revealed  very  clearly  again 
that  the  field  was  in  need  of  a resident  Bishop.  As 
early  as  1885,  Bishop  Young  had  earnestly  pleaded  that 
a Bishop  be  consecrated  for  Cuba,  but  it  was  not  until 
the  General  Convention  of  1901  that  the  Island  was 
constituted  a Missionary  District.  The  election  of  a 
Bishop  was,  however,  postponed.  In  the  interim,  the 
Presiding  Bishop  designated  the  Bishop  of  Porto  Rico 
as  Bishop-in-charge  of  the  new  district.  The  diffi- 
culties of  travel  between  the  two  islands  were  such  that 


[ 100  ] 


VILLAGE  IN  THE  INTERIOR  OF  CUBA 


THE  RT.  REV.  A.  W.  KNIGHT,  D.D.  THE  RT.  REV.  HIRAM  R.  HUES] 

First  Bishop  of  Cuba,  1904-1913  Second  Bishop  of  Cuba,  1915— 


it  was  imposible  for  any  real  good  to  come  out  of  this 
arrangement,  and  the  situation  remained  unchanged 
until  the  next  General  Convention,  when  the  Rev. 
Albion  W.  Knight  was  elected  the  first  Bishop  of  Cuba. 
His  consecration  followed  almost  immediately  and,  in 
January,  1905,  he  went  to  his  field.  At  a conference 
of  workers  which  he  called  immediately  upon  his  arrival, 
the  following  programme  was  formulated : “To  seek 
out  the  American  and  English  residents ; to  shepherd 
the  shepherdless  of  whatever  nationality ; to  provoke  to 
good  works  the  old  Church  in  the  Island  and  the  dif- 
ferent missionary  organizations  at  work  in  Cuba ; and 
to  teach  Christianity  as  this  Church  has  received  it, 
without  rancor  to  others,  and  without  apology  for  our 
Mission.” 

Bishop  Knight  found  the  Mission  at  a very  low  ebb. 
The  American  missionaries  had  been  withdrawn,  and 
only  a single  Cuban  priest  and  a single  Cuban  deacon 
remained  at  work.  The  whole  situation  was  most  dis- 
couraging since,  for  thirty  years,  the  history  of  the 
Church’s  work  in  Cuba  had  been  one  of  beginnings  and 
cessations,  and  there  had  been  little  to  impress  people 
with  the  stability  of  our  purpose.  The  coming  of 
Bishop  Knight,  however,  seemed  to  augur  better  days, 
and  he  immediately  surveyed  the  field  and  made  plans 
to  man  the  stations  at  the  ten  points  where  services  had 
been  held.  In  Havana  were  two  missions — Holy 
Trinity,  and  Calvario  at  Jesus  del  Monte.  The  former 
occupied  a rented  store  on  the  Prado  and  ministered  to 
a mixed  congregation  of  English,  Americans,  and 
Cubans  numbering  about  160  communicants.  Services 
were  conducted  in  English  in  the  morning  and  in  Span- 
ish in  the  evening.  Despite  its  intermittent  leadership, 
this  mission  had  become  very  nearly  self-supporting. 
The  mission  in  Jesus  del  Monte  was  an  entirely  Cuban 
work.  In  its  own  building,  containing  chapel,  school 
room,  and  living  quarters,  the  Mission  reached  45  com- 
municants with  60  children  in  its  day  school,  and  90 
in  the  Sunday  School.  At  Matanzas,  the  oldest  centre 
on  the  Island,  Mr.  Duarte  had  retired,  and  the  work 


[ 103  ] 


was  in  charge  of  a colored  deacon.  Here  the  Church 
had  sixty  communicants  and  a parish  school  of  116 
carried  on  in  the  old  orphanage.  In  the  farming  dis- 
tricts centering  around  Guayabal  and  Bacuranao  ser- 
vices were  held  in  such  places  as  were  available,  and  in 
the  latter  place  a Sunday  School  of  forty  was 
maintained. 

At  Bolondron,  a town  of  2000  people,  the  Church 
had  a little  chapel,  and  from  there  the  missionary  went 
to  La  Union  for  occasional  services.  In  Sagua  la  Grande 
and  La  Gloria  were  small  English-speaking  congre- 
gations without  any  sort  of  church  buildings,  though 
La  Gloria  was  planning  to  erect  a chapel.  Camaguey 
was  a most  important  and  strategic  point ; nevertheless 
the  church  was  dependent  upon  whatever  might  be 
loaned  it  for  a place  to  hold  service.  On  the  Isle  of 
Pines  regular  services  were  held  in  two  small  chapels 
at  Columbia  and  Santa  Rosalia,  and  occasional  ser- 
vices at  Nuevo  Gerona  and  Santa  Fe. 

In  March,  1905,  a colored  deacon  trained  at 
St.  Augustine’s,  Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  was  sent  to 
Santiago  de  Cuba  to  begin  work  among  his  own  people. 
There  was  still,  however,  a great  need  for  work  among 
the  whites  there.  At  Guantanamo,  the  Church  took 
over  the  School  and  Home  formerly  carried  on  by  an 
American  woman,  and  was  promised  two  lots  for 
Church  purposes.  Occasional  services  were  also  held 
at  this  time  in  Nuevitas  where  there  were  four  com- 
municants; and,  in  the  Vedado  district  of  Havana,  a 
school  for  girls  was  begun  late  in  1905. 

While  Bishop  Knight  was  making  every  endeavor  to 
keep  all  these  various  stations  open  and  to  extend  the 
work  as  rapidly  as  circumstances  would  permit,  the 
calls  he  received  were  constant.  At  one  time,  no  less 
than  ten  places  were  on  the  waiting  list.  At  the  first 
annual  convocation,  held  in  January,  1906,  it  was  re- 
ported that  there  were  ten  teachers  in  parochial  schools 
having  300  pupils.  A similar  number  were  in  Sunday 
Schools,  and  there  were  450  communicants.  By  the 
close  of  the  year,  the  number  of  stations  occupied  was 

f 104  ] 


CHAPEL  AT  ENSENADA  DE  MORA 


CHURCH  OF  THE  FIELES  A JESUS,  MATANZAS 


twenty-five,  and  only  the  shortage  of  men  and  equip- 
ment prevented  this  number  being  doubled.  During 
the  decade  of  Bishop  Knight's  episcopate,  the  Church’s 
work  was  pushed  into  every  corner  of  the  Island  and 
among  every  class.  Some  of  the  many  demands  could 
be  met  through  monthly  visits  of  a missionary ; in  other 
cases  the  people  formed  congregations  on  their  own 
initiative  with  never  a visit  from  a missionary. 

Simple  as  were  the  beginnings  in  many  instances, 
efforts  were  always  made  to  secure  adequate  quarters 
for  the  work.  Between  1908  and  1913  substantial 
churches  or  chapels  were  built  at  La  Gloria,  Ensenada  de 
Mora,  and  Guantanamo, — the  two  last-named  being 
made  possible  through  the  generosity  of  Church  people 
in  Philadelphia.  At  Limonar,  a church  was  erected 
and  completely  furnished,  except  for  the  organ,  by  the 
people  themselves.  Chapels  were  built  at  three  places' 
on  the  Isle  of  Pines.  In  Havana,  the  English-speaking 
congregation  of  Holy  Trinity  under  the  leadership  of 
the  Rev.  C.  B.  Colmore,  undertook  the  task  of  building 
a new  church  to  serve  as  a Pro-Cathedral.  Begun  in 
1907,  the  church  was  opened  for  services  in  a little 
more  than  a year  although  with  a debt  which  was  not 
entirely  paid  until  sixteen  years  later. 

Though  the  work  was  thus  expanding,  the  changes  of 
population  and  especially  the  shifting  of  Americans 
about  the  Island  led  in  some  instances  to  the  abandon- 
ment of  work  when  the  people  for  whom  it  was  main- 
tained moved  away.  For  example,  in  one  town,  a 
colony  of  Canadians  settled.  The  Church  ministered 
to  them  and  gradually  the  congregation  grew  and  a 
building  was  erected.  After  a time  the  colony  began  to 
dwindle  away  until  no  one  was  left,  and  at  last  the  de- 
serted church  was  destroyed  by  a cyclone.  Such  was 
the  fate  of  much  of  the  early  English-speaking  work  of 
the  Church.  In  many  cases,  however,  the  places  of  the 
Americans  were  taken  by  Cubans,  and  the  Church 
hoped  to  reestablish  her  work  for  them  as  soon  as 
suitable  leaders  could  be  secured. 


t 107  ] 


The  future  of  the  Church  in  Cuba  as  in  other  lands 
depends  upon  its  educational  work.  As  the  children 
are  influenced,  so  the  future  is  shaped.  Mention  has 
been  made  of  the  girls’  school  in  the  Vedado  section 
of  Havana.  At  the  close  of  the  year  1905,  the  Church 
was  maintaining  day-schools  at  Matanzas,  Santiago  de 
Cuba,  Guantanamo,  and  at  Jesus  del  Monte,  Havana. 
At  Guantanamo  and  Matanzas,  where  old  orphanages 
were  used,  a few  boarding  pupils  could  be  accommo- 
dated. This  was  a small  beginning,  but  it  developed 
rapidly.  Within  the  next  few  years ; schools  were 
opened  in  Guantanamo  for  colored  Jamaican  children; 
at  Guanabacoa  for  girls ; at  Limonar  for  the  industrial 
and  manual  training  of  Negro  boys;  at  Constancia  for 
the  children  of  workers  on  the  plantations ; and  in  Ha- 
vana for  boys.  Besides  these  major  projects,  educa- 
tional work  was  begun  at  Bolondron,  Sante  Fe,  Cha- 
parra,  and  Colon.  By  1910,  the  Church  had  18  educa- 
tional institutions  with  929  pupils.  It  is  worthy  of  note 
that  these  schools  gradually  came  to  be  largely  self- 
supporting,  no  less  than  four-fifths  of  the  teachers’ 
stipends  being  provided  by  the  tuition-fees. 

Any  account  of  the  educational  work  of  the  Church 
would  be  most  inadequate  without  mention  of  the 
keystone  of  the  system — a theological  training  school. 
Such  a school  was  begun  in  the  Mission  House  at  Jesus 
del  Monte,  Havana,  in  the  autumn  of  1907  with  six 
resident  and  three  non-resident  students  under  a faculty 
composed  of  Messrs.  Sharpe,  Steel,  Colmore,  and 
Morall.  More  men  than  could  be  accepted  applied  for 
admission,  and  so  began  the  institution  which  has 
proved  such  a force  in  the  life  of  the  Church  in  Cuba. 

Though  it  had  been  the  recognized  aim  of  the  Cuban 
Mission  to  have  as  many  parochial  schools  as  possible, 
and  though,  as  we  have  seen,  marked  success  had  at- 
tended the  establishment  of  the  parochial  system,  it 
became  apparent  with  the  passing  years  that  the  welfare 
of  the  Cuban  Church  demanded  the  establishment,  in 
the  capital,  of  strong  educational  institutions  for  boys 
and  girls.  With  limited  funds,  however,  concentration 

t 108  ] 


ST.  MARY'S  CHURCH,  SANTIAGO 


HOLY  TRINITY  CATHEDRAL,  HAVANA 


in  Havana  meant  partial  withdrawal  elsewhere,  and  in 
view  of  the  importance  of  the  matter  as  well  as  of  an 
impending  change  in  episcopal  jurisdiction,  it  was 
thought  best  to  postpone  action. 

In  October,  1913,  Bishop  Knight  requested  the 
House  of  Bishops  to  relieve  him  of  responsibility  in 
Cuba  in  order  that  he  might  accept  the  Vice-chancellor- 
ship of  the  University  of  the  South.  The  House  of 
Bishops  accepted  his  resignation  but  appointed  him 
Bishop-in-charge  until  his  successor  could  be  elected 
and  consecrated.  Thus  Bishop  Knight  was  able  to 
round  out  a decade  of  service  as  Bishop  of  Cuba,  during 
which  time  he  had  increased  the  number  of  congrega- 
tions from  10  to  37,  communicants  from  200  to  over 
2000,  clergy  from  2 to  24,  and  parochial  school  pupils 
from  75  to  over  800. 

At  a special  meeting  of  the  House  of  Bishops  in 
October,  1914,  the  Rev.  Hiram  R.  Hulse,  one-time 
General  Secretary  of  the  American  Church  Missionary 
Society,  was  elected  Bishop  of  Cuba.  He  was  conse- 
crated on  January  12,  1915,  and  proceeded  at  once  to 
his  field  where  he  continued  to  build  the  Church  in  Cuba 
on  the  foundations  and  along  the  lines  so  ably  laid  out 
by  Bishop  Knight. 

Almost  simultaneously  with  the  resignation  of  Bishop 
Knight,  two  of  the  pioneer  missionaries  with  him  left 
the  Island.  One  of  them,  Dean  Colmore  of  Holy 
Trinity  Pro-Cathedral,  was  called  to  the  Bishopric  of 
Porto  Rico ; the  other,  Mr.  Sharpe,  who  had  been  in 
the  Island  since  Bishop  Whitaker’s  visit  of  1900,  re- 
signed after  years  of  devoted  and  effective  service. 
Thus  important  posts  were  left  vacant,  and  the  new 
Bishop  was  faced  with  the  extra  problem  of  securing 
new  missionaries.  For  the  Pro-Cathedral,  he  secured 
the  Rev.  George  B.  Myers  who  remained  as  dean  until 
1922  when  the  University  of  the  South  elected  him  to 
one  of  its  professorships.  He  was  succeeded,  in  Oc- 
tober, 1923,  by  the  Rev.  Harry  Beal,  rector  of  Grace 
Church,  New  Bedford,  Massachusetts,  under  whose 
leadership  the  congregation  finally  paid  off  the  debt  on 

[ HI  I 


the  building,  and  the  Cathedral  was  consecrated  on 
March  2,  1924.  On  this  occasion,  the  first  Bishop  of 
Cuba,  Bishop  Knight,  under  whom  the  Cathedral  had 
been  begun,  was  present. 

Bishop  Hulse,  in  assuming  the  Cuban  episcopate,  be- 
came the  leader  of  a three-fold  work,  i.e.,  among  native 
Cubans,  among  Americans  and  other  English-speaking 
colonists,  and  among  the  large  population  of  West 
Indian  Negroes  who  had  always  turned  naturally  to 
the  ministrations  of  the  Episcopal  Church. 

Cuban  Work. 

The  Cuban  work  was  carried  on  in  Spanish,  and  was 
conducted  from  nineteen  centres.  Of  steadily  increas- 
ing importance,  the  task  lay  in  building  up  stable  con- 
gregations especially  in  the  small  towns  and  rural  parts 
of  Cuba  where  no  Church  of  any  kind  had  ever  ven- 
tured, and  to  seek  out  places  in  need  of  the  Church’s 
ministrations.  In  some  respects  Cuba  is  still  a frontier 
country,  developing  rapidly  in  many  places.  In  the 
centre  and  in  the  east  new  towns  are  continually  spring- 
ing up.  The  development  of  the  Cuban  and  Northern 
Railroad  systems  boomed  the  towns  along  their  lines, 
and  in  many  of  these  growing  towns  there  were  no 
churches  or  schools,  and  no  services  of  any  kind  had 
ever  been  held.  It  was  the  policy  of  the  Mission  to 
search  out  such  places  and  begin  services  in  Spanish. 
Some  of  our  most  successful  work  has  been  done  in  this 
way.  At  Moron,  the  headquarters  of  the  Northern 
Railroad,  the  president  of  the  railroad  gave  the  Church 
a lot  upon  which  a school  and  residence  were  built.  Plans 
for  a church  were  prepared ; and,  until  it  could  be  built, 
the  school-room  was  used  for  services  The  opportunity 
in  these  towns  was  great,  and  it  was  urgent  that  the 
church  recognize  it  at  once;  for  other  Christian  bodies, 
Roman  Catholics,  Methodists,  and  Baptists  were  seek- 
ing locations  in  which  to  work. 

[ 112  ] 


INTERIOR.  HOLY  TRINITY  CATHEDRAL,  HAVANA 


ST.  MICHAEL’S  CHURCH,  CEBALLOS 


A few  years  ago  one  of  our  missionaries  went  to 
a town  of  this  kind  and  started  services ; he  soon  had 
a congregation.  A Sunday  School  in  Connecticut  heard 
of  the  situation,  and  gave  the  money  for  a church.  In 
one  year  this  Mission  reported  103  baptisms. 

It  is  sometimes  asked  why,  if  the  people  are  so  much 
interested,  they  do  not  put  up  their  own  churches.  The 
answer  is  that  in  most  cases  they  are  too  poor.  Cuba 
suffers  from  absentee  ownership.  One-third  of  her 
sugar-mills  are  owned  in  the  United  States.  The  work- 
men in  many  of  these  places  see  very  little  money  from 
one  year’s  end  to  another.  They  are  paid  off  in  orders 
on  the  company  store.  At  the  end  of  the  year  when  a 
settlement  is  made,  they  find  they  have  eaten  up  or 
worn  out  all  that  is  coming  to  them. 

This  Cuban  side  of  our  work  has  substantial  charac- 
teristics ; we  are  building  for  the  future,  laying  the 
foundations  of  the  National  Church  which  is  to  be.  In 
1925,  the  Church  had  42  places  in  which  services  for 
Cubans  were  held  in  Spanish.  It  is  noteworthy  that 
the  largest  number  of  baptisms  and  candidates  for  con- 
firmations come  from  these  places. 

Work  Among  Americans  And  English 

After  the  Spanish-American  War,  American  interest 
in  Cuba  drew  many  of  our  countrymen  there.  Some 
settled  in  the  cities.  In  Havana,  for  example,  there 
grew  up  a large  American  colony,  engaged  in  every 
kind  of  commercial  enterprise.  Others  settled  outside 
the  cities  on  plantations ; and,  attracted  by  the  beautiful 
climate,  established  themselves  in  small  settlements, 
seeking  in  most  instances  to  make  a living  by  raising 
oranges,  lemons,  pineapples,  and  grapefruit. 

Though  the  stranger  escapes  many  of  the  hardships 
of  the  North,  the  tropics  have  their  own  ways  of  dis- 
comforting him.  Northern  women  find  the  constant 
heat  enervating,  and  they  are  much  annoyed  by  the 
multiplicity  of  insect  life.  The  men  find  that  the 

[ 115  ] 


ordinary  temptations  of  life  come  with  redoubled  force 
under  the  tropical  sun.  The  Cubans  are  a sober  race, 
but  the  Northern  settler  finds  many  temptations  to  drink, 
and  if  he  gives  way  he  soon  falls  into  other  and  more 
serious  vices.  What  the  scientists  tell  us  about  the  un- 
favorableness of  the  tropics  for  people  from  the  North 
is  true,  and  those  who  go  down  there  need  the  steady- 
ing hand  of  the  Church.  As  a worker  of  many  years’ 
service  wrote : 

“Subject  to  the  conditions  of  life  in  a new  country — 
where  the  old  neighborhood  restraints  no  longer  exist, 
these  settlers  are  in  special  need  of  the  ministrations 
of  the  Church.  They  need  the  restraints  and  incentives 
of  religion.  Patriotism  and  Christian  statesmanship,  as 
well  as  Christian  devotion,  force  upon  us  our  responsi- 
bility for  our  own  people.  We  must  do  our  part  in 
seeing  that  the  Americans  are  well  represented  in  this 
neighboring  island,  that  the  Cubans  may  have  a chance 
to  see  what  kind  of  Christian  manhood  is  produced  by 
our  interpretation  of  Christianity.  High-minded  and 
clean-living  laymen  make  our  best  missionaries,  and  if 
we  cannot  hold  our  own  we  will  be  able  to  make  little 
impression  on  those  outside  the  fold.” 

From  the  very  beginning,  this  aspect  of  our  work  in 
Cuba  was  emphasized.  At  the  close  of  Bishop  Knight’s 
episcopate  there  were  congregations  of  Americans  and 
other  English-speaking  residents  in  no  less  than  fifteen 
towns,  and  occasional  services  were  held  in  many  of 
the  rural  districts  where  American  colonists  had  settled. 

One  of  the  early  centres  of  American  life  was  the 
Isle  of  Pines  which,  because  of  its  supposed  status  as 
United  States’  territory  under  the  terms  of  the  treaty 
which  closed  our  war  with  Spain,  proved  peculiarly 
attractive  to  our  countrymen.  When,  however,  this 
status  was  called  in  question  and  finally  settled  in  favor 
of  Cuba,  the  American  settlers  promptly  showed  a 
tendency  to  leave.  There  were  five  missions  of  the 
Church  there,  four  church  buildings,  a school,  and  one 
rectory.  The  one  missionary  resident  on  the  Island 

[ H6  ] 


held  four  services  every  Sunday,  making  his  way  from 
place  to  place  in  an  automobile,  driving  his  car  over 
sixty  miles  each  Sunday,  as  well  as  preaching  four 
sermons. 

Though  the  American  colonies  established  in  Cuba 
at  the  time  of  the  Occupation,  have  gradually  grown 
smaller,  there  were,  in  1925,  more  Americans  on  the 
Island  than  ever  before.  Aside  from  the  considerable 
American  group  in  Havana,  they  are  widely  scattered, 
mainly  on  the  extensive  sugar-plantations  located  for 
the  most  part  in  isolated  and  remote  places.  Under  such 
circumstances,  wherever  the  co-operation  of  the  planter 
promised  a certain  degree  of  permanence,  the  Church 
has  endeavored  to  erect  suitable  buildings. 

Work  Among  Negroes. 

The  development  of  eastern  Cuba  brought  many 
Negroes  from  other  parts  of  the  West  Indies,  especially 
Jamaica.  When  the  Island  was  at  last  freed  from 
periodic  revolutions,  it  offered  better  opportunities  for 
making  a living  than  could  be  found  in  the  English 
West  Indian  possessions.  As  a result,  beginning  about 
1910,  the  Jamaican  immigration  proceeded  without 
interruption ; by  1925,  it  had  assumed  enormous  pro- 
portions. The  majority  of  these  incoming  Negroes 
belonged  to  the  Church  of  England,  and  thus  a very 
serious  obligation  was  laid  upon  our  own  Church. 
Referring  to  this  subject  in  June,  1920,  Bishop  Hulse 
said  that  though  the  newcomers  “desire  and  need  our 
ministrations,  we  cannot  reach  them  all  because  we  have 
so  few  workers.  We  have  need  of  men  to  go  from 
place  to  place  in  the  Provinces  of  Camaguey  and 
Oriente  organizing  congregations  and  ministering  to 
these  newcomers.” 

It  seems  deplorable  that  in  the  face  of  so  great 
an  opportunity,  the  lack  of  facilities  should  prevent 
the  Church  from  complete  contact  with  a Negro  popu- 
lation having  close  affiliation  with  our  own  branch  of 
the  Church  but  likely  to  drift  away  from  it  through 
the  greater  diligence  of  other  Christian  bodies. 

[ 117  ] 


The  early  years  of  Bishop  Hulse’s  episcopate  were 
crowded  with  the  difficulties  attendant  upon  the  World 
War.  In  1917,  social  unrest  led  to  an  attempted  revo- 
lution. Strikes  and  epidemics  interfered  with  the  or- 
derly development  of  our  Mission,  not  to  mention  the 
hardships  entailed  by  the  ever  increasing  cost  of  living 
and  by  sickness  and  death  among  the  workers.  Not- 
withstanding these  drawbacks,  however,  there  were 
certain  compensations.  The  social  and  intellectual  un- 
rest made  the  people  ready  to  listen  to  new  voices,  and 
gave  the  Church  an  opportunity  for  a hearing.  There 
were  not  lacking  signs  of  a religious  revival.  At  the 
same  time,  this  very  awakening  produced,  among  the 
isolated  natives,  a recrudescence  of  animism;  the 
Negroes  showed  a tendency  to  revert  to  their  old  voodoo 
practices;  and  the  cult  of  spiritism  in  various  forms 
became  popular  among  the  educated  classes. 

During  this  period,  the  Church  was  constantly  re- 
ceiving calls  to  enter  new  places ; but  was  unable  to 
respond,  largely  because  of  the  shortage  of  workers. 
This  scarcity  of  workers  was  making  it  difficult  even  to 
maintain  established  work.  The  resignation  of  a single 
worker  early  in  1920  deprived  no  less  than  six  places  of 
regular  services.  On  the  whole,  however,  the  Mission 
showed  fairly  steady  progress.  Land  was  secured  either 
through  purchase  or  gift  in  Santa  Cruz  del  Norte, 
Cespedes,  Sueno,  Paso  Estancia.  At  each  of  these 
places,  within  a very  short  time,  buildings  were  erected. 
The  building  in  the  Sueno  section  of  Santiago  was  a 
combination  of  church  and  school,  and  was  the  first 
building  erected  by  the  Church  there.  It  was  of  great 
importance  in  increasing  the  interest  of  the  people  in 
our  work. 

After  the  existing  work  was  strengthened,  which  was 
the  first  aim  of  the  Church’s  policy,  new  work  was 
initiated  in  small  towns  unoccupied  by  any  other 
Christian  body.  This  was,  of  course,  entirely  in  accord 
with  the  policy  which  had  taken  the  Church  into  the 
country  districts  and  had  made  us  a pioneer  in  that 
field. 


[ 118  ] 


The  most  important  advance  in  the  work  was  begun 
in  1919  with  the  opening  of  a boy’s  boarding  school 
in  Marianao,  a suburb  of  Havana.  Five  years  later, 
this  school  was  closed  and  the  furniture  moved  to 
Camaguev  where  a boarding  school  was  opened  in  a 
rented  building. 

Everywhere  the  Church’s  educational  equipment  was 
outgrown.  The  new  school  building  at  Guantanamo 
was  so  overcrowded  that  a large  class  had  to  be  held 
on  the  Church  porch ; at'  Sueno  and  Cuabitas  the 
schools  were  filled  to  capacity.  In  fact  the  school  at 
Sueno  was  so  popular  that  there  was  room  for  only 
the  very  small  children.  Day  schools  were  begun  at 
Cespedes  and  Nueva  Gerona  in  1921,  and  the  next  year 
a new  church  and  school  building  was  begun  in  Santi- 
ago de  Cuba.  But  always  the  shortage  of  workers 
made  it  difficult  to  maintain  the  ground  won. 

In  the  five  years  ending  with  1920,  the  Church  in 
Cuba  had  lost  seven  men  by  death  or  resignation  and 
had  only  added  two  by  ordination  in  the  field.  One  of 
these  was  the  Rev.  Juan  McCarthy,  for  many  years  a 
Baptist  missionary  in  Cuba.  He  became  attracted  to 
our  Church  and  was  ordained  deacon  in  October,  1920. 
He  was  advanced  to  the  priesthood  the  next  year  and 
assigned  to  Camaguey  where  he  began  a notable  work. 

Some  years  ago,  the  editor  of  a Cuban  newspaper 
wrote:  “We  have  given  up  worshiping  God  and  now 
we  worship  ‘what  they  say’.”  In  such  a situation,  the 
great  contribution  of  the  Church  must  be  the  establish- 
ment of  schools  under  Christian  auspices.  Here  the 
youth  of  Cuba  can  be  freed  not  only  from  ignorance, 
but  from  the  domination  of  false  and  selfish  ideals ; 
here,  the  sanctity  of  the  body  can  be  emphasized,  and 
its  development  secured  ; and  from  such  schools  we  may 
presently  see  arising  the  Christian  ideal  of  service. 

In  estimating  the  success  of  the  Church’s  work  in 
Cuba,  too  much  emphasis  must  not  be  placed  on  its 
material  growth,  but  rather  it  must  be  judged  by  the 
extent  of  its  indirect  influence  on  the  community.  The 

[ H9  ] 


religious  and  social  atmosphere  must  be  changed  before 
great  gains  can  be  hoped  for,  and  the  Cubans  must  be 
convinced  that  we  are  in  Cuba  as  Christians  and  not 
as  Americans,  and  that  the  purpose  of  the  Church’s 
endeavor  is  to  build  up  an  independent  native  Church, 
self-governing,  and  self-supporting. 


[ 120  ] 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

GENERAL 

♦Bonsal,  Stephen.  The  American  Mediterranean.  (New 
York:  Scribner,  1912.)  $3.00. 

♦Chandler,  C.  L.  Inter-American  Acquaintances.  (Sewanee: 
University  Press,  1917.)  $1.25. 

♦Garcia-Calderon,  F.  Latin  America,  Its  Rise  and  Progress. 

(New  York:  Scribner,  1915.)  $3.00. 

♦Gray,  Arthur  R.  The  New  World.  (New  York:  National 
Council,  1916.)  50c. 

—*That  Freedom.  (New  York:  National  Council,  1925.)  50c. 
Hart,  A.  B.  The  Monroe  Doctrine , An  Interpretation.  (Bos- 
ton: Little,  1916.)  $1.75. 

Inman,  Samuel  G.  Problems  in  Pan-Americanism.  (New 
York:  Doran,  1921.)  $2.00. 

♦Jones,  L.  L.  Caribbean  Interests  of  the  United  States.  (New 
York:  Appleton,  1916.)  $2.50. 

♦Sherrill,  Charles  H.  Modernizing  the  Monroe  Doctrine. 

New  York:  Revell,  1917.)  $1.25. 

Thomas,  D.  Y.  One  Hundred  Years  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine. 

(New  York:  Macmillan,  1923.)  $4.00. 

♦Warshaw,  Jacob.  The  New  Latin  America.  (New  York: 
Crowell,  1922.)  $3.00. 

CUBA 

♦Forbes-Lindsay,  C.  H.  A.  Cuba  and  Her  People  of  Today. 
(Boston:  Page,  1911.)  $3.00. 

Stuart,  G.  H.  Cuba  and  Its  International  Relations.  (New 
York:  Institute  of  International  Education,  1923.)  15c. 

♦Wright,  Irena  A.  Cuba.  (New  York:  Macmillan,  1910.) 
$2.50. 

DOMINICAN  REPUBLIC 

♦Hazard,  Samuel.  Santo  Domingo,  Past  and  Present  with  a 
Glance  at  Hayti.  (New  York:  Harper,  1873.) 

[ 121  ] 


HAITI 


Kelsey,  Carl.  The  American  Intervention  in  Haiti  and  The 
Dominican  Republic.  (Philadelphia:  Amer.  Acad.  Pol. 
Soc.  Sci,,  1922.)  $1.00. 

Kuser,  J.  D.  Haiti , Its  Dawn  of  Progress  After  Years  in  A 
Night  of  Revolution.  (Boston:  Badger,  1921.)  $3.00. 

♦MacNutt,  Francis  A.  Bartholomew  de  Las  Casas.  (New 
York:  Putnam,  1909.) 

*Nii.es,  Blair.  Black  Haiti.  (New  York:  Putnam,  1926.) 
♦Prichard,  Hesketh.  Where  Black  Rules  White.  (London: 
Constable,  1900.) 

PORTO  RICO 

Fleagle,  Fred  K.  Social  Problems  in  Porto  Rico.  (New 
York:  Heath,  1915.)  $1.00. 

Garcia,  E.  Fernandez  (editor.)  The  Book  of  Porto  Rico. 
(San  Juan,  1923.) 

♦Mixer,  Knowlton.  Porto  Rico.  (New  York:  Macmillan, 
1926.) 

♦Van  Middeldyk.  R.  A.  The  History  of  Porto  Rico.  (New 
York:  Appleton,  1903.)  $1.25. 

♦Verrill,  A.  H.  Porto  Rico,  Past  and  Present  and  San  Domingo 
of  Today.  (New  York:  Dodd,  Mead,  1912.) 

VIRGIN  ISLANDS 

Verrill,  A.  H.  The  Isles  of  Spice  and  Palm.  (New  York: 
Appleton,  1915.)  $1.25. 

♦Zabriskie,  Luther  K.  The  Virgin  Islands  of  the  U.  S.  A. 
(New  York:  Putnam,  1918.) 


•These  books  may  be  borrowed  from  The  Lending  Library  of  The 
Church  Missions  House,  281  Fourth  Avenue,  New  York. 


[ 122  ] 


INDEX 


Advent  Mission,  Aguas  Buenas,  67, 
71,  88. 

Aguas  Buenas,  67,  71,  88. 

All  Saints’  Church,  St.  Thomas, 

92. 

All  Saints’  Mission,  Vieques,  67, 

88. 

American  Church,  11,  18,  25;  in 
Cuba,  95-120;  in  Dominican  Re- 
public, 51-59;  in  Haiti,  13-49;  in 
Porto  Rico,  61-88;  in  the  Virgin 
Islands,  91-93. 

American  Church  Missionary  So- 
ciety, 14,  15,  99,  111. 

Annunciation  Mission,  Santurce, 
67,  87. 

Antigua,  6,  52,  61,  62. 

Aquin,  29,  31. 

Arawak  Indians,  6,  9. 

Army  chaplains,  61. 

Aux  Cayes,  Holy  Saviour,  21,  22, 
31,  32;  Theological  School 

branch,  29. 

Bacuranao,  104. 

Bahama,  5. 

Barbados,  29,  52. 

Barbarism  in  Haiti,  16. 

Battiste,  Rev.  Alexander,  29. 

Beal,  Rev.  Harry,  111. 

Beer,  Rev.  A.  H.,  57,  58. 

Benedict,  Rev.  C.  E.,  29,  33,  44. 

Benedictine  monks,  6. 

Board  of  Missions,  15,  17,  30,  37, 
38,  61,  99. 

Boca  Chica,  57. 

Bolondron,  100,  104,  108. 

Brazil,  62. 

Brown,  Rev.  H.  A.,  61. 

Brown,  Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  C.,  62. 

Buil,  Bernard,  6. 

Burgess,  Rt.  Rev.  George,  visits 
Haiti,  15,  26. 

Calvario,  Jesus  del  Monte,  99,  100, 
103. 

Camaguey,  95,  104,  119. 

Cap  Haitien,  22,  39. 

Carib  Indians,  6,  9. 

Carson,  Rt.  Rev.  Harry  R.,  43,  44, 
48,  49. 

Casalles,  49. 

Cavillon,  33. 

Centenary  Mission,  see  Epiphany 
Mission,  Torgeau. 

Central  America,  6. 

Cespedes,  118,  119. 

Chaparra,  108. 

Christianity,  spread  of,  10. 

Christiansted,  St.  John’s,  92. 


Church  of  England,  18;  Antigua, 
diocese  of,  52,  61,  62;  Barbados, 
diocese  of,  52;  Jamaica,  diocese 
of,  53;  Lambeth  Conference,  18; 
Negroes,  39,  117;  Virgin  Islands’, 
91,  92. 

Cienfuegos,  95. 

Colmore,  Rt.  Rev.  Charles  B.,  39 
43,  53,  72,  75,  83.  87,  92,  93 
107,  108,  111. 

Colon,  108. 

Columbia,  104. 

Columbus,  Christopher,  5.  6.  58 
61,  91. 

Conquistadors,  10. 

Constancia,  108. 

Consuelo,  57,  58. 

Coxe,  Rt.  Rev.  Arthur  C.,  16. 

Croix  des  Martyrs,  32. 

Crossman,  Dr.  L.  W.,  80. 

Cuabitas,  119. 

Cuba,  American  Church  in,  95-120 
American-English  speaking  work 
115-117;  Bacuranao,  104,  Bibles 
circulated,  98;  Bishop  for,  96 
100,  103,  111;  Bolondron,  100 
104,  108;  Calvario,  Jesus  de 

Monte,  99,  100,  103;  Camaguey 
95,  104,  119;  Cespedes,  118,  119 
Chaparra,  108;  Christian  bodie; 
in,  112;  Church,  state  of,  100 
‘118;  Cienfuegos,  95;  cities,  popu 
lation,  95;  climate,  115,  116 

Colon,  108;  Columbia,  104;  Con 
stancia,  108;  Cuabitas,  119;  de 
velopment,  95,  96;  early  work  in 
98;  education,  108,  119;  En 

senada  de  Mora,  107 ; expansion 
107;  Fieles  a Jesus,  Matanzas 
98,  100,  103,  104,  108;  firs 

service,  97;  future,  119,  120 

Guanabacoa,  108;  Guantanamo 
95,  104,  107,  108;  Guayabal,  104 
Havana,  95,  99,  100,  103,  104 
107,  108,  111,  112,  115,  117 
Holy  Trinity,  Havana,  103,  107 
111,  112;  Hulse,  Rt.  Rev.  H.  R. 
Ill,  112,  117;  Isle  of  Pines,  104 
107,  116;  Jesus  del  Monte,  99 
100,  103,  108;  Knight,  Rt.  Rev.  A 
W.,  37,  38,  71,  103,  104,  107 
111;  Ladies’  Cuban  Guild,  99 
La  Gloria,  104,  107 ; La  Union 
104;  Limonas,  107,  108;  Mari 
anao,  119;  Matanzas,  95,  98,  100 
103,  104,  108;  Moron,  112 

Missionary  District,  100;  Negr 
work  in,  117-120;  natural  re 
sources,  96;  Northern  Railroad 
112;  Nuevitas,  104;  Nuevo  Ger 


[ 123  ] 


ona,  104,  119;  orphanages,  100; 
Paso  Estancia,  118;  population, 
10,  95,  96;  religious  freedom, 
98;  revolutions,  99;  Sagua  la 
Grande,  104;  Santa  Cruz  del 
Norte,  118;  Santa  Fe,  104,  108; 
Santa  Rosalia,  104;  social  up- 
heaval, 118;  statistics,  104,  111; 
Sueno,  118,  119;  Theological 

Training  School,  Jesus  del 
Monte,  108;  Times,  97;  Vedado, 
104,  108. 

Danish  West  India  Company,  91. 
Day  Nursery,  Port  au  Prince,  40. 
Dispensary,  Gonaives,  30. 
Dominica,  6. 

Dominican  friars,  9. 

Dominican  Republic,  American 
Church  in,  51-59;  conditions  in, 
52,  58,  59;  Consuelo,  57,  58; 
early  history,  51;  Epiphany 
School,  Santo  Domingo  City,  57; 
first  missionaries,  53;  Fort 
Ozama,  54;  Holly,  Bishop,  visits, 
32,  52;  La  Romana,  52,  57; 
Marines  in,  54;  Negroes  in,  54; 
population,  51;  Puerto  Plata,  57; 
St.  Gabriel’s  Consuelo,  58;  St. 
Stephen’s  School,  San  Pedro  de 
Macoris,  32,  52,  57,  58;  Santiago 
de  los  Caballeros,  57;  Santo 
Domingo  City,  52,  53,  54,  57,  58; 
United  States  and,  51,  52. 

Droste,  Rev.  J.  F.,  72. 

Duarte,  Senor  Pedro,  98,  99,  100. 
Du  Bois,  Rev.  J.  C.,  62. 

E!  Coto  de  Manati,  72,  75,  79,  88. 
El  Dorado,  6. 

F.1  Pastillo,  St.  Paul’s,  88. 
Ensenada,  St.  Mark’s,  88. 

Ensenada  de  Mora,  107. 

Epiphany  Mission,  Torgeau,  32,  33. 
Epiphany  School,  Santo  Domingo 
City,  57. 

Espanola,  5,  6. 

Female  Bible  Society,  98. 

Ferrando,  Rt.  Rev.  Manuel,  83,  84. 
Fieles  a Jesus,  Matanzas,  98,  100, 
103,  104,  108. 

Fond  a Cheval,  32. 

Foreign  Committee,  See  Board  of 
Missions. 

Fort  Ozama,  54. 

Frederiksted,  St.  Paul’s,  92. 

Galante,  6. 

General  Convention,  17,  18,  39; 
1901,  62,  100;  1904,  103;  1913, 
38,  39,  53,  72;  1919,  39,  92; 
1922,  43;  1925,  43. 

Gonaives,  21,  30. 

Gonave,  Island  of,  49. 

Good  Saviour,  Petit  Fond,  33. 


Good  Shepherd,  Leper  Island,  88 

Gospel  Echo,  16,  22,  25. 

Gray,  Rev.  Arthur  R.,  75. 

Grice,  Rev.  Samuel,  39. 

Gros-Morne,  21. 

Guadaloupe,  6. 

Guanabacoa,  108. 

Guantanamo,  95,  104,  107,  108. 

Guayabal,  104. 

Haiti,  American  Church  in,  13-49; 
Aquin,  29,  31;  Aux  Cayes,  21, 
22,  29,  31,  32;  barbarism,  16; 
Bishop  for,  16,  17,  18,  39,  43; 
Boca  Chica,  57;  Burgess,  Rt. 
Rev.  George,  visits,  15,  26;  Cap 
Haitien,  22,  39;  Carson,  Rt.  Rev. 
H.  R.,  43,  44,  48,  49;  Casalles, 
49;  Cavillon,  33;  Christian 
bodies  in,  37;  Croix  des  Martyrs, 
32;  colonization,  13;  dispensary, 
30;  Epiphany  Mission,  Torgeau, 
32,  33;  episcopate,  native,  18; 
establishment  of  Mission,  13,  14; 
first  church  building,  15,  16; 

Fond  a Cheval,  32;  girls,  work 
among,  47;  Gonaives,  21,  30; 
Gonave,  49;  Good  Shepherd, 
Petit  Fond,  33;  Gros-Morne,  21; 
Holly,  Rt.  Rev.  J.  T.,  13,  14,  15, 
18,  21,  23,  32,  37,  44,  48,  52; 
Holy  Trinity,  Port-au-Prince,  14, 
16,  21,  22,  25,  26,  31,  34,  40, 
43,  48;  illiteracy,  26;  independ- 
ence, 13,  33,  51;  invasion  of 

Santo  Domingo,  51;  Jeremie,  21, 
22,  25;  L’Acul,  21;  Lancasterin 
School,  Port-au-Prince,  29; 
L’anse-a-veau,  21;  La  Salle,  26; 
Lascahobas,  33;  Leogane,  21,  25, 
26,  32,  33;  Marines  in,  30,  40; 
medical  mission,  29,  30;  mission 
press,  25;  mission  magazine,  16, 
22,  25;  Mirebalais,  32;  Mission- 
ary Society,  25;  Morris,  Bishop, 
visits,  39,  43;  Mutual  Relief  So- 
ciety, 30;  native  ministry,  18,  26, 
29,  44;  Orthodox  Apostolic 

Church,  17,  25,  29,  30,  32,  34, 
37,  38;  Petit  Boucan,  31;  Petit 
Fond,  21,  33;  Port-au-Prince,  14, 
15,  16,  18,  21,  22,  25,  26,  29,  31, 
32,  34,  37,  40,  43,  47,  48;  Port  de 
Paix,  21,  49;  protectorate,  40; 
Province  II,  43;  Ravines  aux 
Lianes,  49;  religious  conditions, 
16;  revolutions,  16,  21,  40;  Ro- 
man Church  in,  39,  48;  rural 
work,  21,  32;  St.  Ann’s  Croix 
des  Martyrs,  32;  St.  George’s, 
St.  Louis,  31;  St.  James’  Clinic, 
Port-au-Prince,  30,  31;  St. 

Jude’s,  Fond  a Cheval,  32;.  St. 
Louis  du  Nord,  32;  St.  Louis  of 
the  South,  31;  St.  Luke’s,  Jere- 


[ 124  ] 


mie,  25;  Theological  School,  26, 

29,  44,  47;  Torbec,  21;  Torgeau, 
32,  33;  Trianon,  21,  32. 

Haitian  Missionary  Society,  25. 
Havana,  American  colony,  115, 
117;  boys’  school,  108;  Calvario, 
Jesus  del  Monte,  99,  100,  103; 
Holy  Trinity,  103,  107,  111,  112; 
Jesus  del  Monte,  99,  100,  103; 
Marianao,  119;  population,  95; 
progress,  99,  100;  Vedado,  104, 
108. 

Heathenism,  32. 

Hicks,  Ellen  T„  80. 

Holly,  Dr.  Alonzo  P.,  30. 

Holly,  Rt.  Rev.  James  T.,  13,  14, 

15,  18,  21,  23,  32,  34,  37,  44,  48, 
52. 

Holly,  Rev.  T.  F.,  29. 

Holy  Comforter,  Port-au-Prince, 

16,  21. 

Holy  Saviour,  Aux  Cayes,  21,  22, 
31,  32. 

Holy  Trinity,  Havana,  103,  107, 

111,  112. 

Holy  Trinity,  Ponce,  62,  87. 

Holy  Trinity,  Port-au-Prince,  14, 
16,  21,  22,  25,  26,  31,  34,  40,  43, 
48. 

Hospitals,  Gonaives,  30;  Marine, 

30,  40;  St.  James’,  Port-au- 
Prince,  30,  31;  St.  Luke's,  Ponce, 
68,  79,  80. 

Hulse,  Rt.  Rev.  Hiram  R.,  Ill, 
112,  117. 

Illiteracy,  26,  67. 

Indians,  5;  Arawaks,  6,  9;  Caribs, 
6,  9;  conversion,  10. 

Industrial  schools,  75,  76. 

Isle  of  Pines,  104,  107,  116. 

Jamaica,  6,  53,  117. 

Jeremie,  21,  22,  25. 

Jesus  del  Monte,  Havana,  99,  100, 
103,  108. 

Jones,  Rev.  Edouard  C.,  47. 

Jones,  Marianne,  48. 

Jones,  Rev.  Pierre  E.,  29,  31,  37, 
44,  47. 

Kenney,  Rev.  Edward,  97,  98. 
Knight,  Rt.  Rev.  Albion  W.,  37, 
38,  71,  103,  104,  197,  111. 

L’Acul,  21. 

La  Carmelita,  67. 

Ladies’  Cuban  Guild,  99. 

La  Gloria,  104,  107. 

Lambeth  Conference,  18. 

La  Navidad,  6. 

Lancasterin  School,  Port-au-Prince, 
29. 

L'Anse-a-veau,  21. 

La  Romana,  52,  57. 


La  Salle,  26. 

Lascahobas,  33. 

Las  Casas,  Bartolomeo  de,  9,  10. 
La  Union,  104. 

Le  Conte,  President,  37,  38. 

Lee,  Rt.  Rev.  Alfred,  15. 

Leogane,  21,  25,  26,  32,  33. 

Leper  Colony  Mission,  88. 
Limonar,  107,  108. 

Llwyd,  Rev.  A.  R.,  39,  40,  43,  44, 
47. 

McCarthy,  Rev.  Juan,  119. 
McCoskry,  Rt.  Rev.  Samuel  A.,  14. 
Magueyes,  88 
Marianao,  Havana,  119. 

Marines,  American,  30,  40,  54. 
Matanzas,  95,  98,  100,  103,  104, 
108. 

Mayaguez,  62,  67,  75,  76,  83.  88. 
Medical  mission,  29,  30,  68,  79. 
Mellen,  Rev.  A.  IL,  99. 

Mirebalais,  32. 

Mission  Press,  25. 

Mona  Passage,  61. 

Montserrat,  6. 

Morell,  Rev.  E.,  108. 

Moreland,  Rt.  Rev.  William  H., 
62. 

Moreno,  Rev.  M.  F.,  100. 

Moron,  112. 

Morris,  Rt.  Rev.  James  C.,  39,  43. 
Mutual  Relief  Society,  Gonaives, 
30. 

Myers,  Rev.  George  B.,  111. 

Native  ministry,  18,  26,  29,  44,  68, 
71,  83,  84. 

Negro,  10,  13,  39,  54,  117,  120. 
New  World,  The,  75. 

New  World,  5,  6,  10. 

New  World  School,  The,  El  Coto 
de  Manati,  75. 

Northern  Railroad,  112. 

Nuevitas,  104. 

Nueva  Gerona,  104,  119. 

Orphanages,  100. 

Orthodox  Apostolic  Church  of 
Haiti,  17,  25,  29,  30,  32,  34, 
37,  38. 

Ovando,  Nicholas  de,  9. 

Panama  Canal  Zone,  39,  43,  47. 
Paso  Estancia,  118. 

Petit  Boucan,  31. 

Petit  Fond,  21,  33. 

Philadelphia  Female  Bible  Society, 
98. 

Plantations,  Missions  on,  58. 
Ponce,  79;  Holy  Trinity,  62,  87; 
parish  school,  67;  St.  Elizabeth’s 
Home,  79;  St.  Luke's  Hospital, 
68,  79,  80. 


[ 125  ] 


Population,  Cuba,  10,  95,  96;  Do- 
minican Republic,  51;  Porto 
Rico,  10,  61;  West  Indies,  10. 

Port-au-Prince,  18,  47;  American 
delegation  to,  37;  beginnings,  14, 
15;  day  nursery,  40;  educational 
work,  26;  Epiphany,  32;  first 
church,  15,  16;  Holy  Comforter, 
16,  21;  Holy  Trinity,  14,  16,  21, 
22,  25,  26,  31,  34,'  40,  43,  48; 
Lancasterin  School,  29;  Theo- 
logical School,  26,  29,  44,  47; 
St.  Ann’s,  32;  St.  James’  Clinic, 
30,  31. 

Port  de  Paix,  21,  49. 

Porto  Rico,  Advent,  Aguas  Buenas, 
67,  71,  88;  All  Saints’,  Vieques, 
67,  88;  American  Church  in, 

61-88;  American  annexation,  61; 
Annunciation,  Santurce,  67,  87; 
Army  chaplains  in,  61;  begin- 
nings in,  61,  Colmore,  Rt.  Rev. 
C.  B.,  39,  43,  53,  72,  75,  83, 
87,  92,  93,  107,  108,  111;  con- 
ditions in,  66;  discovery,  6; 
earthquake,  1918,  76;  education, 
67,  72,  79;  El  Coto  de  Manati, 
72,  75,  79,  88;  El  Pastillo,  88; 
Ensenada,  88;  Equipment  fund, 
67;  Ferrando,  Rt.  Rev.  Manuel, 
83,  84;  first  service,  61;  Good 
Shepherd,  88;  Holy  Trinity, 
Ponce,  62,  87 ; illiteracy,  67 ; in- 
dustrial schools,  75,  76;  La  Car- 
melita,  67;  leper  colony,  88; 
Magueyes,  88;  Mayaguez,  62, 

67,  75,  76,  83,  88;  medical  mis- 
sion, 68,  79;  native  ministry, 

68,  71,  83,  84;  New  World 

School,  El  Coto,  75;  opportuni- 
ties, 67;  Ponce,  62,  67,  68,  75, 
79,  80,  87;  people,  65;  popula- 
tion, 10,  61;  progress,  66,  67; 
Province  II,  72,  92;  Pueblo 

Viejo,  67;  Puerta  de  Tierra,  67, 
83,  87;  Quebrada  Ceiba,  88; 

Quebrada  Limon,  79,  83,  84,  88; 
religion,  65;  religious  freedom, 
61 ; Resurrection,  El  Coto,  72, 
75;  Roman  Church  in,  65;  rural 
work,  72,  79;  St.  Andrew’s, 

Mayaguez,  75,  76;  St.  Cather- 
ine’s Training  School,  San  Juan, 
79;  St.  Elizabeth’s  Home,  Ponce, 
75;  St.  John’s,  San  Juan,  62,  87; 
St.  John’s  School,  San  Juan,  76; 
St.  Luke’s,  Puerta  de  Tierra, 
67,  83,  87;  St.  Luke’s  Hospital, 
Ponce,  68,  79,  80;  St.  Luke’s 
Training  School  for  Nurses, 
Ponce,  80;  St.  Paul’s,  Santurce, 
87;  St.  Mark’s,  Ensenada,  88; 
St.  Paul’s,  El  Pastillo,  88;  San 
Juan,  61,  62,  67,  68,  76,  79,  84, 
87;  Santurce,  67,  87;  social  con- 


ditions, 66;  statistics,  88;  Van 
Buren,  Rt.  Rev.  J.  H.,  62,  65, 
66,  67,  68,  71;  Vieques,  67,  88; 
university,  79. 

Pratt,  Rev.  George  B.,  61. 

Protectorate,  U.  S.  in  Haiti,  40. 

Province  II,  43,  72,  92. 

Pueblo  Viejo,  67. 

Puerta  de  Tierra,  67,  83,  87. 

Puerto  Plata,  57. 

Quebrada  Ceiba,  88. 

Quebrada  Limon,  79,  83,  84,  88. 

Ravines  aux  Lianes,  49. 

Religious  freedom,  61,  98. 

Resurrection,  El  Coto  de  Manati, 
72,  75. 

Reus,  Esteban,  83. 

Revolutions,  Haiti,  16,  21,  40; 
Cuba,  99. 

Robinson,  Ethel  M.,  79. 

Roman  Catholic  Church,  Haiti,  39, 
48;  Porto  Rico,  65. 

Royce,  Mrs.  Estelle  Swann,  47,  48. 

Rural  work,  Haiti,  21,  32;  Porto 
Rico,  72,  79. 

St.  Andrew’s,  Mayaguez,  75,  76. 

St.  Ann’s,  Croix  des  Martyrs,  32. 

St.  Catherine’s  Training  School  for 
Women,  San  Juan,  79. 

St.  Croix,  62,  92. 

St.  Elizabeth’s  Home,  Ponce,  75. 

St.  Gabriel’s,  Consuelo,  58. 

St.  George's,  St.  Louis  of  the 
South,  31. 

St.  James'  Clinic,  Port-au-Prince, 
30,  31. 

St.  John’s,  Christiansted,  92. 

St.  John’s,  San  Juan,  62,  87. 

St.  John’s  School,  San  Juan,  76. 

St.  Jude’s,  Fond  a Cheval,  32. 

St.  Louis  du  Nord,  32. 

St.  Louis  of  the  South,  31. 

St.  Luke’s,  Jeremie,  25. 

St.  Luke’s,  Puerta  de  Tierra,  67, 

83,  87. 

St.  Luke’s  Hospital,  Ponce,  68,  79, 
80. 

St.  Luke’s  Training  School  for 
Nurses,  Ponce,  80. 

St.  Mark’s,  Ensenada,  8S. 

St.  Martin,  6,  21. 

St.  Paul’s,  Frederiksted,  92. 

St.  Paul's,  El  Pastillo,  88. 

St.  Paul’s,  Santurce,  87. 

St.  Peter  the  Apostle,  99. 

St.  Stephen’s  School,  San  Pedro  de 
Macoris,  57. 

St.  Thomas,  All  Saints’,  92. 

Sagua  la  Grande,  104. 

Salomons,  Thomas  G.,  61. 

San  Isidro,  57. 


[ 126  ] 


San  Juan,  61,  62,  84;  parish  school, 
67,  68;  Fuerta  de  Tierra,  67,  87; 
St.  Catherine’s  Training  School, 
79;  St.  John’s,  62,  87;  St.  John’s 
School,  76;  Santurce,  67,  87. 

San  Pedro  de  Macoris,  32,  52,  57, 
58. 

San  Salvador,  5. 

Santa  Cruz,  6. 

Santa  Cruz  del  Norte,  118. 

Santa  Fe,  104,  108. 

Santa  Rosalia,  104. 

Santiago  de  Cuba,  95,  104,  108, 

119. 

Santiago  de  los  Caballeros,  57. 

Santo  Domingo  City,  52,  53,  54,  57, 
58. 

Santo  Domingo,  See  Dominican 
Republic. 

Santurce,  67,  87. 

Saylor,  Rev.  F.  A.,  75,  76,  83. 

Schools,  Aquin,  Government  School, 
29;  Camaguey,  119;  Constancia, 
108;  Epiphany  School,  Santo 
Domingo  City,  57;  Gonaives,  21; 
Guanabacoa,  108;  Guantanamo, 
108;  industrial,  75,  76,  108; 

Jesus  del  Monte,  Havana,  108; 
Lancasterin,  Port-au-Prince,  29; 
Limonar,  108;  Marianao,  Ha- 
vana, 119;  Matanzas,  108;  St. 
Andrews,  Mayaguez,  75,  76; 

need  for,  26,  43,  44;  New  World 
School,  El  Coto,  75;  Port-au- 
Prince,  26;  primary,  44;  Roman 
Catholic,  48;  St.  Catherine’s 
Training  School,  San  Juan,  79; 
St.  John’s  School,  San  Juan,  76; 
St.  Luke’s  Training  School  for 
Nurses,  Ponce,  80;  St.  Stephen’s, 
San  Pedro,  de  Macoris,  57;  San- 
tiago de  Cuba,  108;  Epiphany, 
Santo  Domingo  City,  57;  statis- 
tics, 26;  Theological  School,  Port- 
au-Prince,  26,  29,  44,  47;  Ve- 
dado,  104,  108. 

Settlers,  Spanish,  9. 

Sharpe,  Rev.  A.  T.,  108,  111. 

Slavery,  6,  9,  10. 


Social  service,  44,  47. 

Spain,  5,  6,  51,  95. 

Steel,  Rev.  W.  W.,  108. 

Sueno,  118,  119. 

Syle,  Rev.  Edward  W.,  99. 

Theological  School,  Port-au-Prince, 
26,  29,  44,  47. 

Theological  Training  School,  Jesus 
del  Monte,  108. 

Times  of  Cuba,  quoted,  97. 

Torbec,  21. 

Torgeau,  Epiphany  Mission,  32,  33. 

Toussaint,  38. 

Trianon,  21,  32. 

Trinidad,  6. 

Van  Buren,  Rt.  Rev.  James  H.f 
62,  65,  66,  67,  68,  71. 

Vedado,  Flavana,  104,  108. 

Vieques,  All  Saints’,  67,  88. 

Villafane,  Rev.  Antonio,  83. 

Villafane,  Rev.  Aristides,  83. 

Virgin  Islands,  All  Saints’,  St. 
Thomas,  92 ; American  Church 
in,  91-93;  Christiansted,  92;  de- 
scription, 91;  discovery,  6,  91; 
Colemore  Report,  92;  Frederik- 
sted,  92;  history,  91;  St.  Croix, 
62,  92;  St.  John’s,  Christiansted, 
92;  St.  Paul’s,  Frederiksted,  92; 
St.  Thomas,  92 ; statistics,  92 ; 
transferred  to  American  Church, 
92;  United  States  purchase,  91, 
92. 

Vogel,  Dr.  Carl,  68. 

West  Indies,  5,  6,  9,  10,  11,  39, 
52,  57,  117. 

Whipple,  Rt.  Rev.  Henry  B.,  62, 
96,  97,  98. 

Whitaker,  Rt.  Rev.  O.  W.,  99,  100. 

Wilson,  Rev.  B.  I.,  52,  57. 

Women  workers,  training  of,  79. 

World  War,  effect  on  Cuba,  118. 

Wyllie,  Rev.  Wm.,  53,  54,  57,  58. 

Young,  Rt.  Rev.  John  F.,  98,  99. 


Copies  of  this  handbook  may  be  obtained  from 
The  Book  Store,  Church  Missions  House,  281 
Fourth  Ave.,  New  York,  N.  Y.  Price  50  cents. 

As  this  handbook  is  not  published  for  financial 
profit,  the  price  is  computed  on  a basis  lower  than 
that  necessarily  used  by  commercial  houses. 


1 Ed.  4-26.  2M  D. 


Supplement  No.  1 to  the  West  Indies  Handbook 


THE  WEST  INDIES— 1926 

The  Republic  of  Haiti 

ONE  of  the  happiest  days  of  the  year  was  when  Bishop 
Carson  received  permission  from  the  Department  of 
Missions  to  begin  work  on  the  new  Holy  Trinity  Cathedral, 
Port-au-Prince,  although  $10,000  of  the  required  amount  had 
yet  to  be  raised.  Accordingly,  on  October  11,  after  an  im- 
pressive service  on  the  spot  which  will  be  covered  by  the 
altar,  construction  was  begun.  It  was  hoped  that  the  re- 
maining funds  would  be  raised  before  the  money  in  hand 
was  exhausted  in  order  that  the  work  might  suffer  no  inter- 
ruptions and  the  Cathedral  brought  speedily  to  completion. 

Five  days  after  this  joyous  event  not  only  Haiti,  but  the 
whole  Church  was  saddened  by  the  death  in  St.  Luke’s 
Hospital,  New  York,  of  the  Rev.  A.  R.  Llwyd,  missionary 
in  Haiti  since  1918,  and  archdeacon  since  1923.  Fortunately 
for  the  work  in  Haiti  a successor  was  soon  found  in  the 
person  of  the  Rev.  Clarence  R.  Wagner  who  had  had  mis- 
sionary experience  in  the  Mountain  Province  of  the  Philip- 
pine Islands. 

The  Dominican  Republic 

Archdeacon  Wyllie’s  indefatigable  efforts  made  possible 
the  erection,  at  a cost  of  $1,800,  of  a simple  building  for  the 
English  speaking  employees  on  San  Isidro  Sugar  Plantation. 
The  new  church  is  described  as  “just  a very  plain,  wooden 
structure — useful,  without  ornament  of  any  kind.  ‘A  Little 
Sanctuary,’  a bright  spot,  right  in  the  place  where  it  is 
needed.” 

Porto  Rico 

On  April  11,  in  Ponce,  the  new  Holy  Trinity  Cathedral 
was  consecrated.  A feature  of  the  work  of  the  Cathedral 
congregation  had  been  their  interest  in  people  in  other  sec- 
tions of  the  city.  This  had  resulted  in  the  beginning  of  the 
Mission  of  St.  Mary  the  Virgin  and,  in  1926,  a beautiful  little 
church  was  consecrated.  The  entire  cost  with  the  exception 
of  a small  gift  from  the  American  Church  Building  Fund 
Commission,  was  met  locally. 

An  interesting  development  of  the  year  was  the  inaugura- 
tion of  a rural  station  about  ten  miles  from  San  Juan.  In  a 
large  farmhouse  room,  bare  but  for  a homemade  altar,  the 
Rev.  Aristides  Villafane,  at  the  farmer’s  invitation,  con- 
ducted services  regularly.  From  the  beginning,  the  services 
were  popular  and  within  a short  time  the  average  attend- 
ance was  75. 


The  Porto  Rican  Mission  suffered  a loss  in  November, 
through  the  burning  of  the  Mission  residence  on  the  Island 
of  Vieques. 


The  Virgin  Islands 

The  work  of  the  Sisters  of  St.  Ann  established  in  the 
various  parishes  on  the  Islands,  received  encouragement  dur- 
ing the  year.  At  Frederiksled,  St.  Croix,  a new  convent  was 
opened;  while  at  All  Saints’  Church,  St.  Thomas,  a new 
chapel  for  the  Sisters  was  blessed. 

Cuba 

The  Church  in  Cuba  suffered  serious  loss  from  the  cyclone 
which  swept  over  the  Island  on  the  morning  of  October  20. 
The  greatest  damage  was  on  the  Isle  of  Pines  where  our 
four  churches  were  completely  destroyed  and  the  debris 
scattered  far  and  wide  over  the  neighborhood.  In  Havana, 
Matanzas,  Limonar,  and  Bolondron,  the  damage  to  church 
property  was  relatively  slight;  but  at  Bacuranao  our  chapel 
was  damaged  beyond  repair,  and  at  Santa  Cruz  de  Norte 
the  Church  was  filled  with  mud  by  the  deluge  and  all  the 
church  furniture  was  ruined.  It  was  estimated  that  at  least 
$3,400  would  be  necessary  to  repair  all  the  damage  not  count- 
ing that  on  the  Isle  of  Pines. 

While  the  work  in  Havana  was  retarded  by  the  resigna- 
tion of  the  Rev.  Harry  Beal  as  dean  of  the  Cathedral  for 
whom  no  successor  had  been  found  by  the  close  of  the  year, 
it  was  encouraging  to  note  that  in  the  Province  of  Camaguey, 
at  Sola,  near  La  Gloria,  a new  mission  was  inaugurated  with 
services  in  both  English  and  Spanish  for  the  West  Indian 
Negroes  and  the  Cubans  respectively.  The  Jamaican  Hall 
was  available  for  the  West  Indian  services,  but  for  the 
Spanish  services  the  Church  was  obliged  to  use  a motion 
picture  theatre  through  the  generosity  of  the  proprietor. 


ERRATA 


Page  70. 

Change  caption  of  upper  picture  to  read 
Rican  Home,  San  Juan. 

Porto 

Page  75. 

Line  24  read  were  for  are. 

Page  75. 

Line  25  read  House  for  Home. 

Page  75. 

Lines  26-28  delete  sentence  This  school  . 
the  building. 

■ . of 

Page  76. 

Line  13  delete  and  school. 

Page  79. 

Line  12  add  after  where — St.  Elizabeth’s 
and 

House 

Page  79. 

Line  23  read  7 for  22. 

Page  88. 

Line  29  read  22%  for  30. 

Supplement  No.  2 to  the  West  Indies  Handbook 


THE  WEST  INDIES- 1927 


The  Republic  of  Haiti 


HERE  was  great  cause  for  rejoicing  in  Haiti.  The 


work  on  Holy  Trinity  Cathedral  progressed  so  favor- 
ably that  its  completion  was  in  sight  at  the  close  of  the  year 
and  Epiphany,  1929,  was  set  for  its  consecration.  A first 
small  contribution  was  made  for  the  endowment  of  the  Epis- 
copate, to  which  it  is  hoped  that  additions  will  be  made 
from  year  to  year.  The  completion  and  consecration  of  three 
chapels,  St.  Thomas’,  Arcahaie;  Divin  Berger,  Morne  a 
Chandelle;  and  Epiphany,  Palmiste  a vin ; — did  much  to 
improve  the  material  condition  of  the  District.  Further 
progress  was  indicated  in  the  laying  of  the  cornerstone  of 
Holy  Innocents’  Church,  Port-de-Paix  in  July.  Another 
step  assuring  the  greater  permanence  of  the  Church  in  Haiti 
was  the  coming  of  the  Sisters  of  St.  Margaret  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  their  convent  in  Port-au-Prince. 

The  untimely  death,  on  September  24th,  of  the  Rev.  Paul 
Holly,  a grandson  of  the  first  Bishop  of  Haiti,  accentuated 
the  importance  of  having  an  adequate  well  housed  Theologi- 
cal School  in  Haiti  for  the  development  of  a trained  minis- 
try, not  only  for  Haiti,  but  for  the  Dominican  Republic  as 
well.  A plot  of  land  was  available,  but  the  funds  for  a 
building  were  needed. 

It  should  be  noted  that  Haiti  is  the  only  District  of  the 
American  Church  where  French  is  the  language  of  the  peo- 
ple and  where  the  Church’s  services  are  conducted  in  that 
tongue.  The  work  in  this  French-speaking  country  has  been 
much  handicapped  by  the  dearth  of  French  Prayer  Books. 
Nevertheless  during  1927,  the  Bishop  confirmed  356  who  on 
personal  examination  proved  to  be  adequately  prepared 


Porto  Rico 


For  the  first  time  in  several  years,  a new  mission — St. 
Hilda’s,  Summit, — was  begun.  Plans  were  made  and  funds 
were  available  for  the  erection  of  a small  chapel.  A new 
chapel  was  opened  at  El  Mato,  Quebrada  Limon,  while  a 


parish  hall  for  the  Church  of  the  Resurrection  was  completed 
at  El  Goto  de  Manati. 

The  Church’s  ministry  to  children  was  enlarged  by  the 
opening  of  a children’s  ward  of  12  beds  in  St.  Luke’s  Hos- 
pital, Ponce,  and  the  beginning  of  a day  school  at  St.  Luke’s 
Mission,  San  Juan.  At  the  close  of  the  year  the  school 
reported  35  pupils. 

Cuba 

The  extension  of  the  Church  in  any  place  cannot  but  be 
affected  by  the  economic  situation  of  the  people  among  whom 
the  Gospel  is  preached.  In  1927,  this  was  especially  true 
of  the  Church’s  work  in  Cuba  where  there  was  serious  eco- 
nomic depression  due  to  the  extremely  low  price  of  sugar, 
Cuba’s  one  great  crop.  For  many  there  was  only  three 
months’  work  during  the  whole  year  and  from  April  to 
December  fully  half  the  population  was  unemployed.  This 
had  a direct  effect  upon  the  Church’s  work  which  was  espe- 
cially felt  by  the  schools.  Pupils  were  withdrawn  and  in 
several  places  the  schools  had  to  close.  Two  Church  Schools 
supported  by  sugar  companies  were  closed  as  a result  of 
economy  programs  forced  upon  the  companies.  In  Moron, 
a flourishing  night  school  composed  largely  of  merchants’ 
clerks,  many  of  whom  were  discharged,  had  to  be  closed. 

Everywhere,  however,  in  spite  of  the  hard  times  there 
were  signs  of  growth  and  encouragement.  A most  inade- 
quate staff  was  constantly  receiving  appeals  to  start  services 
in  new  places,  many  if  not  all  of  which  had  to  be  refused 
because  of  a lack  of  both  men  and  means.  At  Moron,  the 
Church  has  an  unexcelled  opportunity.  This  town  was  be- 
coming more  and  more  an  important  centre  as  a result  of  the 
transfer  of  many  sugar  company  offices  to  it  from  Havana. 
Here  in  the  finest  location  in  town  the  Church  had  been 
given  property  but  it  had  no  building.  Likewise,  in  Sola, 
services  had  to  be  discontinued  because  of  the  unsavory  loca- 
tion of  the  only  hall  available  for  such  purposes.  A lot  has 
been  offered  if  the  Church  will  erect  a building  on  it. 

A scattered  work,  badly  in  need  of  strengthening  both 
intensively  and  extensively,  there  were  nevertheless  739  bap- 
tisms and  249  confirmations  while  the  total  Christian  com- 
munity to  which  the  Church  ministered  numbered  5293  of 
whom  2236  were  communicants. 


1 Ed.  6-8.  2M.  M. 


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